the soft

to be human

there was a college student

with his lips turned up and 

his skin a deep tone of 

earth as if the breathing elixir

of life sprung from it

i watched him as he swung

his sign in the blinding sun,

his smile resilient and his

heart warm. there was nothing

more genuine than his wave

to the cars passing by 

and when he made a mistake

and dropped his sign,

he laughed. i was ten feet away

and i could have sworn i saw

two suns shining in eye sockets

and flowers blooming from

his laugh. he shrugged and 

picked it up and carried on. the

smile never did once falter. 

i fell in love.

she was one of the few asian

models walking the victoria 

secret fashion show. i could not

have been more proud. i heard and

watched the videos online of 

how she tripped on the trailing

clothes behind her and her heels

and fell in front thousands of people

in the crowd, millions of people 

judging on their screen, in her own

hometown. people criticized her. 

"you're so unprofessional. you 

can't even do your job right." 

but the only thing i could see was the

way she fell gracefully, the same 

radiant smile lacing her face. 

she seemed to laugh at herself 

and despite the millions of eyes 

she (with the support of others) 

graciously got up and continued 

forward, a goddess. that smile 

never once did falter. 

i fell in love. 

this world is filled with beauty,

in the way humans fall down and

pick themselves up. humans are

beautiful in the way they remain 

resilient. i fall in love with people 

i do not know, from the college 

boy doing his part-time job to the 

professional model. i watch them 

fail, laugh, smile, and move on. 

they wear resilience so well with

sunlit smiles and gracious strides. 

for this is the human race.