when silence breeds discontent
and critics ensnare your feet
in a morass of minutiae
amplify your truth

when gossip makes
a mischief of reality
stand your ground
command all energy
toward positivity

never relent because
others seek to mold you
in their stale likeness
never submit to quietude
when you are gifted
a poetic voice

It's your obligation
to subjugate negation
and contort vexation
into your own narration
toward personal salvation
Your thoughts, your creation
only your fingers, the translation

Never submit to false authority
lies, malice do not signify you
hold your head high
Look to the stars
and dream in words
again

Don’t you get it?
I can’t stop
I can’t stop running it through my mind
Replaying moments every time
I’ve tried once, I’ve tried a thousand times
I can’t just stop

Don’t you think I’ve tried?
Every piece of advice is just adding salt to my wound
Cheer up, snap out of it, relax
Like I’ve never tried giving myself the chance

So understand,
My mind isn’t like yours
No matter how hard I try
The thoughts just seem to multiply

I can’t stop
I can’t snap out of it
All I ask is for you to understand it

Yes.. You can
Is the best sentence that you can say
Yes ..you can
Is the beautiful sentence that you wish to hear

One foot in front of the other
We walk
March through town
Wearing our statements
Pride and strength
I walk
Step by step
Expressing support
For equality
One foot in front of the other
I march
To remember him
His smile and his friendship
Every face I pass
Replace with a memory
Of his gracious heart
And our witty conversations
I walk
In a group
Expressing pride and strength
Rallying in cheers and waves
To feel unity
To feel a part of something
I march
His ghost leads me
I keep watching for him
In a crowd of faces
Knowing with every step
I am closer to his memory

Thrown in ice water
It stings my whole body
Numbing my pain
But drowning me nonetheless
The safe hands of my father save me
from the death that was trying to claim me
I thaw to his touch
His love radiates through me
and brings me life
I am so brittle, like a snowflake
And yet in his control I am alive
My fear has melted to a pool of trust
from which my father shall drink
Breath by breath I am close to life
Only in his hands
Only in his hands
Only in my fathers hands, can I breathe.

Staring at the moon,
It looks gloomy.
Tears in its eyes,
Guilt, surrounds it tonight.

It's not full tonight,
Just a quarter is seen.
Clouds hide,
The guilty being.

I look at the stars,
They don't shine like they used to.
The sky,
Represents my mood.

Guilt and tears,
For I know I sinned.
I can feel it,
Flowing within.

The clouds part,
I see the moon.
The guilt is gone,
The clouds helped it bloom.

The stars are bright,
And a smile blossom.
I can let go,
I found the way.

The withering flower
in me blossoms,
And as the moon now shines,
I shine too.

The clouds helped it,
And it helped me too.
The sin and the guilt pass,
I am free at last.

Your sadness is a beautiful thing
It follows you with the glow of a million fireflies
Compelling the wind to abandon the trees
To carry my hands toward your own
And it pulls the sea away from its shore
To follow the ray of light
That seeps through your wounds