I taught myself to read
to understand other people
to feel empathy
I taught myself to see how they feel
to understand why they believe
what they believe
I taught myself to dream
a world where I could be free
I taught myself to be me
I taught myself that
it's OK to learn
OK to burn
OK to scream
I taught myself that it's OK to curse
OK to be worse than someone else on the team
I taught myself to forgive monsters
and the hard world that sharpened their teeth
I taught myself that
everyone cries
everyone lies
everyone dies
everyone deserves to be alive
even me
but the idea that I deserve to be loved
completely
is still just out of reach
for some reason
that's the hardest idea for me to teach
like Heaven
it's something I wish
I could just close my eyes and believe
it's not that easy
but I WILL find a way
one day
you'll see