Pedestal Poem by Shayla Washington

I put you on this pedestal and portrayed you as this king I knew you had the potential to be. I saw your future and fell in love with it, with him. This man that I knew would one day be great. I wrapped you in gold and shined your crown, made sure your jewels glowed brightly for the world to see. I washed your feet knowing one day they would stand before many holding you up as you gave your acceptance speech for whatever award you've won. I imagined me in the distance gazing at you, so proud and in awe of the man who stood before us. I loved your potential so much that I pushed you until winning this award was a given. I waited patiently as you recited the words we rehearsed many nights before "just in case", and then I heard it. "To my wife who always knew this moment would come. She believed in my potential when I didn't." See, that's how I knew the speech would go because I rehearsed it in my head the nights I begged your potential to write. The nights that I held you and this pedestal on my back. No matter how heavy you got or how weak and tired I felt, I carried you. It seemed as if the more burdens I took off of you, the higher I raised this pedestal, the more disappointed I became. But that was ok because your potential was going to put you exactly where you needed to be. On those restless nights I heard you crying out to your potential how bad you wanted to become this great man. I wondered to myself what was stopping you. I laid out all of the tools you needed before you. I would've written the damn words myself if you asked me to. I would have bled for you a million times. So what was stopping you? Whatever the problem was I came prepared with the solution. All you had to do was dig down into the deepest part of you and pour it out on your canvas. It didn't matter the time or the place, I would've been right there. So what the hell is stopping you? Then I realized how dangerous it is to love someone's potential. You are loving a future them that may never show up. You're loving a dream that may never come to pass. You are not loving the person whose flesh and bones lay before you. So I lowered my pedestal slowly and helped you down. I gently removed your crown and helped you take off the gold I wrapped you in. I let you walk away to be free because I was not in love with you but the man you the potential to be.