People Come in Layers

I have a couple of blog posts that I haven’t finished yet, but for some reason, this poem was bursting out of me yesterday.  I hope you enjoy….

People come in layers
They’re oft not what they seem
As we look upon the outside,
Unblemished and pristine
We see only the surface
Without a second look
The face they put out for us
Can sometimes be mistook
For all that they are made of
When that’s so far from being true
They are truest on the inside
When we see them through and through
The layers build from long days
From life and all it brings
From love and hurts and problems
From the bruises and the stings
From the things that they are proud of
And the things that they are not
The times of disappointment
The battles that they’ve fought
All those issues shape them
And they’ve shaped us as well
So, the look we take so quickly
Is just the surface of the well
There is wisdom in the adage
Of the cover of the book
People are more than surface
They are more than how they look
Remember to look deeper
Then what they do present
Take the time to see the layers
You’ve only seen a small percent
There is beauty in imperfection
In each person that we meet
There are layers that you’ve hidden
From each person that you greet
Give the grace as you look deeper
Then the exterior disguise
you need to look much harder
You can’t see them with your eyes
Hold judgment in the moment
On what they have exposed
And give time to see the layers
Before your heart is closed