Sometimes

Sometimes

Sometimes, there is no resolution
In completion
Only deletion

Sometimes, without you
I feel true
In light of the greater view

Sometimes, you can't see
See me bleed
So completely

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I'm done
Sometimes, I'm gone
Sometimes, there is no more time

The Struggle Neverending

The Struggle Neverending

Camouflage the truth
So it hurts a little less
A little
Not a lot
Pain is so rarely put to rest

It's the reason why
We're up at night
Refusing to sleep,
To stop
It's the fight that never ends

Never does it stop
And neither do we

Process, Perception, Progress

Process, Perception, Progress

Look at the world around you
Use your eyes to see
That you cannot possibly,
Because you have just your two eyes
And there's an infinite galaxy

Perceive your place;
That it will be
A balanced definition
Coming from without
As much as from within

With this balance
With patience
With a concerted effort

Progress to the next
Whether that be a second
Or it be a matter outside of time
It's your progress to make;
Your balance to achieve

Once seeing is replaced by perceiving
You can progress in processing
Processing all the negative
In balance with the positive
And you can balance your internal progression
With external support

No, you're not alone
And, yes you are
We say there is gray
Not in replacement of the black and white
But in acceptance of both

Perceive them both
Process them both
Then you can progress
Into the gray

Where the darkness teaches its harshest,
Most important
Lessons

Where the light teaches its harshest,
Most important
Lessons

Did you expect triumph in one?
Struggle in the other?

The whole of it is triumph and struggle
You don't get to separate them
One is nothing
Without the other

In the darkness we struggle
Struggle to accept its inevitable presence
In our lives
We triumph in darkness
Taking it with us
To the next

In the light we struggle
Struggle to accept we might just deserve it
And to accept that at times we don't
And to accept that sometimes it's at the same time
That we do and don't
Moving forward to the next

So, what's next?
Sometimes, you'll decide
And sometimes you won't

Welcome to the gray

Thank you for sharing your triumphs and struggles

Thank you for being a part of what's next

Risky

Risky

A mortal's life
Defined by making choices
So many different choices
At every step
In every moment

And yet
Despite the variety,
The consistent lack
Of consistency
In the nature of these challenges

There is one truth
One truth about the nature of
Challenges
Choices
Changes

Simply remember this:
Making choices
Is always risk taking
Facing challenges
Is always risk taking
Going through changes
Is always risk taking

Making
Facing
Going

All of it
Is taking

Every gift given
Must then be taken

So take this gift
Into your heart
Risk each beat
For the next one

Regurgitated Culture (Gaining A's)

Regurgitated Culture (Gaining A's)

Do to not tell me
That I didn't succeed
When a kid with low test scores
Finally learned to read

Learned to read
Learned to want to read
Learned to love to read

Do not tell me
That I failed to see
The needs of my students
When the kids with the C's
Finally learned to love what they see

In others
In themselves
In what it means to be free

Free of a regurgitated system
Ruled over by dictators
Hiding behind the title of Policymakers

Hiding in their gluttonous bank accounts
While the children they're supposed to serve
Starve for personalized enlightenment

So what, you can't
Solve the equation their way AND
Write the greatest essay their way AND
Be the next award-winning historian their way AND
The next Nobel scientist their way AND
The star athlete AND
The one with the most community service hours AND
The one with straight A's AND
The number one in the class AND
A loving brother or sister AND
A devoted friend AND
Club president AND
Student government leader AND
Scholarship winner AND
Do all of this without

Without sleep
Without nutrition
Without love
Without compassion
Without kindness
Without time

So you can't be everything all at once
Without losing everything you are?

Something not even a Policymaker
As soulless as they may be
Could ever accomplish

That no human being could ever be

So, set the impossible standards
And then accuse these innocent souls of failure

Go ahead!

Especially when the accusers are no better
Worse! In fact
Having sold out their virtue for control

Control that isn't even really theirs
Policymakers? Ha!
Try well-paid puppets

A wise person once encouraged us
To be, learn, and grow within your own, personal self

Be good at being you
And work to make sure
That who you are is a part
Of the better tomorrow

The better tomorrow
That those lost to their avarice
Cannot begin to see

Cannot begin to take away
Not so long as we refuse

Refuse to be them
And continue to be us

In Memory Of

In Memory Of

In memory of
The memories that have since passed
Lost to time's decay
An inevitable casualty
Of temporal progress
And mindlessness

In memory of
These memories
I weep and don't know why

In memory of
The memories being made
Gathered, collected, gained
Through experience
And experience thrills, enlightens
Scars and burns
Seemingly without reason

In memory of
These memories
I grow broken, bruised, better

In memory of
The memories yet to be made
The twists and turns
To be remembered
But not anticipated

In memory of
These memories
I step in no certain direction

With no more memories to make

Teardrop Erosion

Teardrop Erosion

Why
Must I hurt
To learn?

Why
Must I bleed
To feel?

Why
Must I sow my seed of hope
In my own open veins?

Why
Must the light upon whatever grows
Cast a shadow?

Why
Do tears fall so quickly
When I need to keep them?

Why
Do tears stay, strain, and erode
When I need them hidden?

Why
Must tears be what waters
The seeds buried in my lacerations?

When
Does this
Stop?

Drop

Drop

Drop...

Worthy

Worthy

I find within myself
No desire
To be desired

A belief from within
That before others will believe
I must believe
That I'm worth believing in

In my heart
I carry no wish
To be wished for
By another

I want me
To need me
To love me
To cherish me

I want to feel
As though I might just be

Worth

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