OUR NAKED SOULS
Copyright © 2020 by Justin Wetch. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of reprints in the context of reviews.
Andrews McMeel Publishing
a division of Andrews McMeel Universal
1130 Walnut Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64106
www.andrewsmcmeel.com
ISBN: 978-1-5248-6523-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020936658
Original design and cover by Justin Wetch
Cover illustrations © Shutterstock
Illustrator: Travis Kalani
Editor: Kevin Kotur
Production Editor: David Shaw
Production Manager: Cliff Koehler
Digital Production: Kristen Minter
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Dedicated to the woman who showed me just how beautiful love can be.
Contents
Naked Souls
Broken Hearts
Weary Spirits
Cosmic Minds
About the Illustrator
About the Author
Chapter One
Naked
Souls
Defying Gravity
We could reach the skies
Together
If we only took the chance.
We could fly among the clouds
And touch the first rays
Of the rising sun.
We could fly forever up there
And never come back down
Defying gravity forever
An eternal dance transcending time.
Clovers
Love is found
By walking through
A vast field
Of clovers
Until you find
The one
With four leaves.
You make me feel
As lucky as can be.
Strength
The way you look at me
Gives me the strength
To fight through life
Far beyond what I ever thought possible.
You make me brave
You give me the strength
To keep going.
Forgotten How to Fly
To seek to control
The ones you love
Is a tragedy born
From the ashes of beauty;
Your love, once beautiful, once free
Is like a caged bird
Who has forgotten
How to fly
Do not destroy what you love
By trying to own it.
Day One
Where others told me
I was being unrealistic
Or laughed when I shared
My dreams,
You were the first
To take me seriously,
The only one
Who believed in my dreams.
You showed me love
Before anyone else
Thought anything of me.
I owe you everything.
Back to You
You have always been the one
I come back to
We stray from each other
Every now and again
But each time
We end up back here
I will always come
Back to you
You have always been the one
I wait for
Ping Pong
We were in and out of love
With each other
At different times
Never ready
To make something of us.
You Alone
With you
I hold back nothing.
I whisper to you
In my innermost voice
The voice of my truest self
Surrounded by the mighty walls
I have spent so long building
To keep everyone else out.
You are the only one
Who truly knows me.
You are the only one
I can truly be myself with.
Love Is Like Magic
Love is like magic:
It is limitless
And anything is possible
If you believe in it.
It’s also like magic
In that the moment
You start to question it
To analyze it
To see how it works
It falls apart . . .
Love demands unshakable faith;
The more you believe in it
Without hesitation or vacillation
The more
Love
Transcends
Possibility.
The Tree of Life
Love is like a tree
Which, when planted on good soil
With rain and sunshine
Can live for hundreds of years.
But uproot the tree
And watch it shrivel away—
This is the natural tendency
Of the universe
And love is not immune;
Love, over time, decays to hate
If proper care is not taken
To make sure it thrives.
The deepest rewards of love
Cannot be reached
If sheer passion
Is not met
With hard work
And complete dedication.
The Eternity Between the Moments
Do you know that time
Stretches for an eternity
Between our moments
Of perception?
You can feel it
When you’re in love
Or suffering heartbreak,
When you’re amazed
By beauty
Or saddened
By suffering.
I could stay
In this moment
With you
Forever.
Fade Away
I fade away without your love
My colors dim and darken
I fall for you more every day
Without a hint of caution
Act II
Fairy tales teach you
That love is the end
Of a story,
That somehow
Lovers cross the horizon
Into the sunset
And everything is perfect forever.
No, love is the middle
Of a story.
It isn’t a stasis
Of permanent starstruck eyes
And adoring hearts.
Love is the will
Of two people
To fight for the good
Between them
Even when it isn’t easy.
Love is valuable
Not because it is won
But because
It is fought for.
A Love Like Yours
I hav
e never felt a love like yours,
A love that could replace the sun,
A love that brightens my life
And makes me feel whole.
The silhouette of you
Against the cresting sun—
Somehow I knew, in that moment
That this is what love
Was always meant to look like.
Eloquent
Eloquent writers
Say more with less,
And you’re the most
Eloquent of all.
You showed me an infinite love
Without a single word.
With only your eyes
You created a paradise.
Lying in Bed
The best thing in life
Is lying in bed with her
After a long day
Finding peace
In each other.
In that moment
Everything is still
Everything is okay.
The world stands still
As we lie together
Breathing warm hues of adoration
Eyes wide and full of wonder
For every time
Feels like the first.
I wouldn’t trade
Even one
Of these many moments
For anything in the world.
There is nothing better
Than being so close
To the woman I love.
All the Small Pieces
All the small pieces
Of my heart
That I have given away
In these many years.
I want to take them back
At any cost
So that I have more of myself
To give you.
Transcendence
When I can’t see the good
In life
You shine
And show me
That true beauty still exists
And not all is darkness
You show me
That life can be more
Than mundane routines
You show me
How to embrace the sunlight
And feel the wind on my face
You show me
Transcendence.
We Found Each Other
We found each other in the night
Not looking for love
Just needing to get away
We found each other by accident
And our love grew as if by magic
Where no one believed it could
Promise Me
I want to give you everything;
I want to throw myself into this
With everything I have,
But understand I’ve been hurt before
And it’s not so easy for me.
So just promise me you mean it
When you tell me you love me.
Promise me you’ll tell the truth
And not let me fall hard
If you’re not ready to fall with me.
Completely
My greatest sorrow
Is that I will never be able to love her
As perfectly
As she deserves to be loved.
She loves my flaws
More beautifully
Than anyone else
Has loved
The best parts of me.
But if I can just reflect
Just a little bit
Of her,
Our love could light up
The universe.
Lucky One
The magical thing about us
Is that I think I’m the lucky one
To have you
And you think you’re the lucky one
To have me.
We would both do anything
To keep each other.
Reincarnation
I like to think
That if reincarnation is real
We would still recognize each other
In our new forms.
I would know your soul anywhere
And would travel any distance
To reunite with you.
Who knows how many times
We already have?
Night
Flowers bloom in the night,
Glowing with an air of mystery
Somehow, gentle luminescence glows
Under the insanity of moonlight.
So too gleams the vulnerable seed
That grows between our clasped hands.
Drink deeply from this moment;
Let its infinity grace your soul
And promise me
You will hold a piece of it
Even when the night
Is over.
3:00 a.m.
I will never forget those nights
We spent
Just the two of us
Talking until three in the morning
Despite work
The next day
It was worth it
To live those moments
With you
Shades of Roses
With you
Life is shades of roses;
It glitters with gold
And shimmers with diamonds.
With you
The world seems at peace:
A glorious serenity
Sculpted from calamity.
Memory
Though I’ll travel far
I will never forget you.
Though I’ll live many years
Your memory will stay with me.
And though we might love others
Nothing could compare
To loving you.
My Love
When I am old, my love
And I make breakfast for one
Breathing in sorrow with the new day
When I am old, my love
And nothing tastes as sweet
Without you there with me
To love the world by my side
Will the bird songs
Still ring with glorious melody?
Will the smell of coffee
Still stir my soul to adventure?
When I am old, my love
Living on without you
I am not sure I will keep living
Though my heart still pumps blood.
For without you, my love
Life cannot truly go on
Just as the days would cease
Were the sun plucked from the sky.
Elevate
You do not require the extraordinary
To make things special.
You take the simplest things
And somehow elevate them.
You take the ordinary in life
And turn it into magic.
My Heart in Your Hands
My heart beats in your hands—
Please be careful.
I’m defenseless against you
Like no one else—
Please don’t stab me
In the back.
I trust you
Like no one else—
Please don’t take advantage.
I’m loyal to you
Like no one else—
Please don’t make me
Look a fool.
I love you
Like no one else.
P
lease
Don’t break me.
A Song for Just the Two of Us
Come with me
Up that winding road
Up to the mountains.
Let’s lose ourselves
And forget our cares
If only for a day.
I’ll bring my guitar
And you’ll sing along
A song for just the two of us.
This Simple Love
Loving you
Was not something I expected
But a feeling that rose up
From deep within my soul
And overtook me
Like an ocean wave.
Swept up in this,
Let the ocean take us
Where it may.
All we need is each other,
All we need
Is this simple love.
Not Until
I will never run out
Of things to say about you;
My love for you
Springs in boundless eternity.
It will never falter
Nor weaken,
Not until the sun
Has run out of rays,
Not until the ocean
Has dried to a desert,
Not until the light
Has gone from my eyes.
We Never Fight
A perfect relationship
Is not one
Without conflict.
It is
Knowing how to deal
With conflict
In a mature and healthy way.
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Just because a sunrise
Can be described
As the physics
Of our solar system
Causing the rotation of the earth
To make visible
The object around which it revolves
Doesn’t change the fact
That a sunrise is beautiful.
In the same way
Just because something as beautiful
As love
Can be described as the influence of chemicals
In the brain
—a consequence of evolution—
Does not mean that’s all there is to it.
Those who would deride love
As a mere chemical reaction
May be able to describe love
But will never understand it
Because the magic of being human
Is to synthesize transcendence
From the ordinary.
Jamais Vu
She turned monotony into novelty