You saw me when I was a piece of stone
Weathered from the land, wind, and mighty seas
You'd known me as a strong rock from before
Who could silence the sands, knock over trees.
You thought I'd remain part of the gravel
Living forever in a weak disguise
A thing to be coddled, controlled and thrown
Into paths you'd seen, that you'd advertise.
What if I wanted to rise from the ground?
With cement and water I'd make concrete
I'd become a tall building, then I'd know
That I didn't need you to feel complete.
But I won't forget the role you once played
Wounding so I fell to my knees in pain
We didn't foresee that I'd grow from nothing,
To never be broken by you again.

The intensity with which we shatter,
Those what’s-left-of-us shards that cut you deep,
Brokenness and jagged edges matter,
When prices paid with pieces feels too steep.

Only two things cause our own destruction—
We’re broken from without or from within.
The damage goes beyond reconstruction,
We can’t build what we built before again.

Cracked into piles of debris on the floor,
The remnants of escaped emotion’s cage,
Whose seething burn couldn’t take it anymore,
Disposing of it disrespects its rage.

We’re broken so that something is released,
Those shards remind us what we have to do.
To put them back is just what matters least,
But don’t cut yourself making something new.

It is okay to hurt
It is okay to fall
like a pile of ashes
to the ground

but my dear

in the morning
you must rise
you must open
your walls again

you must never
give up on you
and above all else
you must remember

it doesn't have to be tomorrow
not even the day after
or the next after that

and you must remember
that these things
take time

it is okay to
open up to people
right away
it is okay
to be cautious
since you have
known this hurt before

but don't let that
stop you from
living beautifully

and it is okay
to fall in love
with hands that are
no longer his

but don't let that
make you afraid
to give your all

and it is okay
for these things
to take time..

your ruins
may leave you
feeling empty

but my dear

there is so much
life left in that
Colosseum crumble
he left abandoned

rebuilding will come
but please remember

           -Rome wasn't built in a day

I once was broken,
all my windows cracked,
and walls caving in.
The doors locked and key nowhere to be found.
Someone held the wreaking ball and I came crumbling down,
rubble on the ground.

So I ran.
I left the behind the shattered pieces of photos once hung so neatly,
and pulled myself from beneath the shards of glass and splinters.
This wasn't my place anymore.
No nails could fix the damage done.

And when I stopped running,
I came to the city where my foundation had been dug all those years ago.
I was still a run down shell,
but I knew this was where I had to be.

So I slowly rebuilt my walls,
and put up new windows.
I even painted new memories
and grew from what was planted.
I wasn't just a for rent sign looking for someone to see what was behind my door.
Because the door had finally been opened.

No, I may not be a mansion,
but I am finally home,
whole again.

My heart is starting to look like my converse.
***** and worn, but fully functional.
No holes.

My heart is starting to look like my notebooks.
Missing the cover and a few pages here and there,
but, still full of plenty of worthwhile content.

My heart is starting to act like my cat.
really means well and playful
but, isn't very good with strangers
or people in general, really.

I guess that it's a slow build.
Two steps forward and one step back, is still movement.
I know it's not the saying, but I'm an optimist.
I **** up less often than I get **** right.

Bad things come in threes and I think I've bought myself some time.

Coming back
Coming back without a grandstand
Coming back from the hinterland
Coming back as an old hand

I had cast myself aside
to focus on new graces
Instead placing myself
in permanent stasis

I had all these grand plans
and each one fell through
So now I stumble on back
down a crumbling avenue

Never knew which dream to follow
Never knew which pill to swallow
Now my words they ring so hollow
Now my passions no longer wallow

Coming back
Coming back to a humble home
Coming back to a field to roam
Coming back to find one's own

The sofa begins to mold
itself around my spine
As I lay and acting out
like it was all of mine

Not wanting to address
my failures or success
Claiming that it was all
just part of the process

Never knew what I should do
Never knew how to carry through
Now it happens out the blue
Now I need a new point of view

Coming back
Coming back to build myself
Coming back to repair my health
Coming back with the cards I dealt

Never knew I had it in me
Never knew if I could be happy
Now I skip the hyperbole
Now I give up emotional syncope

Coming back
Coming back to sing my song
Coming back from what was wrong
Coming back to live lifelong