The day I met you I was drunk
The house was breathing with life and memories being made
And I heard someone mumble something about someone being here
And nearly panicked at the possibilities of whom it could've been

But then you spoke
The room died down for a few seconds,
As if everyone there knew how important you were
And how important you would be
Then exploded into laughter

And you vanished into the crowd leaving a canary yellow glass slipper behind as a calling card

The first Wu-Tang song we listened to together was C.R.E.A.M
I didn't know you were a fan until it came on
And suddenly I remembered that slipper

And as time went on, I'd slowly begin to understand the level of your royalty
I'd see you fight back invisible armies in the name of love
I'd see you take command and charge the world with fire in your eyes
And eventually I realized that, around you
I was invincible
(Or felt like it at least)

And now, here you lay
Empress of Goons and Wu-Tang
Goddess of the very moon and stars that speak through your eyes each time you smile
Queen of the Hood Rats
Princess, and keeper of the key to my heart
And as I watch you laugh and enjoy yourself
I'll clutch the glass slipper behind my back
And wonder when the right time to present it to you is
And I'll pray that one day
You'll allow me to call you mine

People of modern society are blind.

They've lost sight of what it means to recognize and accept basic human emotions.
They're frightened by feeling.

At the first sign of angst, depression, anxiety, discomfort, or anger they're convinced it can't be natural.
It must be some disease or disorder that is causing such pain.
No other answer, diagnose and treat at once.

Children, teenagers, young adults, the middle aged, and the elderly
all desperately seeking some sort of instantaneous solution
for themselves and their loved ones.

Those that they should hold dear pawned off on medications
from those commercials with smiling faces
that they wish to be their own.

While in the end the only smiling faces are those with full pockets.

We as humans must confront the fact that sometimes there is not a light at the end of the tunnel
and adapt, as our species so often has, to our individual and collective darkness.

For without that darkness we would never recognize the light.

Because once was a time when we sought to not mask our pain but to understand it.
( see: Neitzche, Kierkegaard, Sartre, Camus, etc.)

When experience and education actually provided freedom and enlightenment,
where the youth were given tools to understand themselves, their society, and their emotions,
to find themselves, to learn, and were encouraged to ask the important questions, to question at all.

To question it all.

Who am I?
What are we?
When did we get here?
Where did we come from?
Why are we here?

Open your eyes.