In this, a searching of a way to culminate my truths
My understandings and findings
But the truth is 
I’ve learned more in my own language
I have found more of myself outside concrete walls
And more in the intimate spaces of my palms
For this is forbidden territory 
A woman’s sensual revelation
An unearthed island
Claimed once before
But this time
You do not own my land
You do not break open the tides that pour waterfalls from my veins
You do not get to claim my harvests
And you will not eat the fruits of my labors
For a true culmination of my truths
Would not be complete
Without an acknowledgement of my personal fears
Demons that whispered
Hanging heavy over my shoulders all my life
Saying 
You do not deserve to be free
And until I awoke in your arms
And found what it means to be honest with myself for the first time
In the safety of red linens
And your flower petals opened wide
scattered by the bedside
It was you I was meant to find
This proclamation of self journey
Would not be complete
Without a gesture of my gratitude
For the dream that awoke me in a breathless exhaustion
That repeated
You cannot lie to yourself anymore
For this is a journey I do not expect you to join
Or to understand the destination when we arrive
But here I am home
In the cradle of her arms
I am home
To be a woman who loves women
Is a quiet space to the outside eye
A ridicule
A whispered shame
A fear laced insult hanging in the air like hollowed fruit
But to the watchful tears
It is a power proclamation
Lungs turned on high
Open bellied expression
A loud defiance to all that we are told we must be
An abandon of a story not woven for me
But with orchids blooming and closing
In the midst of twilight embers
Ashes of a locked part of myself are set free
Spring comes full revolution
And I remember
That to be a woman who loves women
Is the deepest truth I have to expose