Sometimes only poets can soothe my soul. This is one of my favorites from Derek Wolcott. When I am feeling most isolated, afraid and not knowing what to do next, I read this poem and somehow, it provides the balm to my soul. I think it speaks to those of us who struggle with sexual identity transitions at an older age. Love After Love The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life. — Derek Wolcott
