You shook me and placed me to your ears.
Kept guessing who I was for nine months, to years.
Slowly as I grew, you unwrapped the paper,
Assuring me there were lessons you kept for later.
But the hourglass emptied before we expected
And soon I collected dust. I was neglected.

You may have left me feeling bereft
but I won't forget you calling me your gift

You have done the same as all the rest
left as soon as your heart resuscitated mine
But that's alright, I wish you all the best
That's what I am supposed to say. That specific line.

But I'll wonder which of my faults had you running
Why you bothered opening my vault if you knew what was inside.
And my friends will tell me that they knew you were cunning
But I've stopped caring; I've gone through this too many times.

You told me I was beautiful. That I'd be a perfect wife
So why did you start running? why did you cut me out of your life?

Time keeps ticking in my head
As I think of all the beasts
hidden beneath my bed

The tight space in my skull
makes me feel claustrophobic.
Out of breath,
to rethink every thought is aerobic

Wasting minutes as I reacquaint
with every regret  
Wishing I could breath and finally forget


But here I am,  listening
to that clock in my head
that keeps ticking

They've watered you since you were a seed
Watched you as you sprouted into life
Smiled at you every time you did a good deed

You thought they cared when they told you not to frown
Thought they'd be proud when you reached your tallest height
But instead they came with their axes and cut you down

They planted you just to watch you fall
jealousy and greed does this to us all

I thought I'd be the one to end it
That it wouldn't be you that'll break my heart
But that nine worded text you sent me
Shattered it to crumbs of glass, tore me apart.

You were the one with sweaty palms at our first meeting
Your shaky voice trapped my mind
But now it is me that sits here weeping
The night reminding me that I was blind

You expected rejection when you confessed,
Expected me to depart
But it is me now comparing myself to her,
the one that caught your heart

tightly within her grip
as she snatched it from my loose grasp
I never knew your worth
until you left, until I saw you last

I am so tired
Of being- second place
You are never admired
And no one sees your face

I'm tired of others
Being first in your mind
When you knew
I had your back

All this time

But I made one stupid mistake

But that doesn't matter anymore
I already lost this race

Daddy somebody shot that man
I heard this eleven year old say
I didn't really understand at the time
I just knew a man was dead

But with the years that followed
I came to learn how much he meant
To this world in its great need
And how well that time was spent

He preached of equality he preached of peace
As he spoke of man as one
He marched his way down city streets
Facing adversity with the face of love

He was done with all the hatred
That fills so many lives
To him color was a vision
Of equality in his eyes

A life so young a life cut short
By the wicked in us all
Will you stand with me and follow him
Will you heed his righteous call

To call every man your brother
The way Martin Luther King Jr. did
To keep the vision of this visionary alive
A reality in which all mankind should live