Please allow me to introduce myself
In case your new to the scene
I am the thought that brings on the doubt
At the edge of all your dreams

I am lost confidence in the making
With deception on the side
The shiver in the shaking
The turning over of time

I am the spot closest to the end
When you have no where else you can turn
The front door to the school of hardknocks
When there's a lesson needed to learn

I am the dust that's on the shelf
Of your life's ambition
The torn out page if nothing else
Of the part that you are missing

So please allow me to introduce myself
Just in case your new to the scene
When it comes down to it above everything else
I am all you and you are all me

"There is no poetic beauty in pain."
I am learning this slowly.
My hands still shake when it's past 2 in the morning
and breathing isn't easy most nights.
I am not poignant with my words
and some days it's hard to get out of bed.

This is my adolescence:
A tangled mess of dismantled almosts
and empty promises scribbled messily on the back of restaurant napkins.
It's stolen kisses in sleepy coffee shops,
failing chemistry,
driving recklessly,
and staying up late on lonely nights to watch the sunrise.

There are days where I'm convinced life shines
with a brilliance unknown to me,
so I continue on and live for those days.
Those days where breathing comes a little easier and I remind myself
that everything happens for a reason.
I hope you find these days where all you know is basked in a vibrance you've only read about.

Live for those days.
Live for me.

One must be brave to live through  
a day. What remains
is nothing but the pleasure of longing—very precious.

Longing
purifies as does flying, strengthens as does an effort,  
it fashions the soul
as work
fashions the belly.

It is like an athlete, like a runner  
who will never
stop running. And this
gives him endurance.

Longing
is nourishing for the strong.  
It is like a window
on a high tower, through which  
blows the wind of strength.

Longing,
Virginity of happiness.