You are not to stab yourself in the eyes
and bury your head, bleeding
in the dark, cool sand,
shaking your fist blindly at the sky.

Do not staple letters of resignation
around your sorry heart,
and gild them in that lie of opportunity cost,
so that you may trudge through your stagnation
and self-loathing
uninterrupted.

Do not crumble beneath the challenges
that may rip into your soft body,
and shred the skin from your tender frame,
to leave you raw
and open.

Wake up.

You are not to die
having ran away from the great potential in yourself
or having mutilated it out of fear.

The world will crawl like fresh water
into your wounds,
and it will sting,
and it will heal,
Because you are luminous,
and meant to bloom.