do not

By Alicia DeSimone

do not waste your time making me feel delicate and pretty.
instead, build me
up so that i may experience life alongside you.
influence me to do good and
be strong.
turn me to stone and make me a monument,
so that i may be
rigid and forever beautiful.
do not pity me, or lay praising eyes on me.

for i am simply flesh, arranged the way the world chose.
do not help me
live, or try to save me;
but live with me, and let us save one another.