14/09/2025
You're never too much
I wonder if anyone has ever dared to tell the ocean it's too big.
That it takes up too much space on the map; that its waves are too loud, too wild, too persistent. That it should calm down, shrink itself. Learn to stay within the lines drawn by logical hands and tidy minds. I wonder if anyone has ever stood on a cliff above the roaring blue sea and shouted, āCould you just not be so much?ā
It would be futile, because the ocean doesn't answer. It just keeps moving; vast, unapologetic and sometimes overwhelming, kissing the shore with salt and secrets, swallowing the sand in its tides. It doesnāt shrink to fit a postcard. It doesnāt hush itself so fragile hearts can sleep. It doesnāt care if someoneās shoes get wet because they stepped too close and didnāt understand what they were standing next to.
And yet, here we are: asked every day to be smaller, quieter, softer. To make our griefs neater, our joys quieter, our rage more reasonable. We are told to wear our emotions like perfume -just a hint, just enough to be interesting, but never too much. Never too much.
But you, my love...
you were not born to be 'just enough'. You were not put here to smooth out the edges of someone elseās comfort by shrinking and silencing yourself. Just like the ocean, your depth is not a flaw; it is a force. So when life feels like the waves - vast, unapologetic and overwhelming - allow yourself to feel it.
You don't have to apologise for your tears, my love. The ocean doesn't bow to those that stand at its edge and complain about its depth.
*****
Becky Hemsley 2025
Beautiful artwork by Schagen Vita (via Artfinder)
This was the brand new Sunday poem on my Patreon page last week.
