Life is tough they say to her When she has things she needs to say Things she need to say Life is tough They say Every time they hurt her Life is tough She repeats to herself But she learned that life is not only tough It cold, cruel, and mean So she finds release She didn't know what she was doing the first time She slowly pulled it across her leg She made sure not to hit any arteries Her mother expected her to be a doctor after all As her blood dripped she felt all her stress flow away At 12 she started By 13 she was good at making sure her mother didn't notice Even though she knew that she never really did look at her Alone she carried out her ritual every day Every night her silent tears lulled her to sleep She longed for her mother's affection But her longing was never fulfilled So she repeated life's tough every time she cut herself By now they criss crossed her legs From thigh to ankle She wanted; no needed the release it gave her All the pressure of perfection,hurt,and pain leaked out in her blood It ran red for her alone Her's But life is tough so the girl keep coming back to her knife To release her pain Until she found that she could weave her pain into words She explored with it And found herself sitting performing a new ritual She writes her pain, her stress into poems But life is tough But now the she has a way to toughen through it All by herself