After 13 years
there is a need for honesty
all the things I've held back
are placed in front of me
for as long as I could remember
it has never been this way
sometimes life is a parade
that winds up like JFK.

At the end of the day
all I want is to be me
but the cup is empty
the tank is dry
there isn't any "me" left
and now I know the reason why.

Not my soul
that I rip aside
not my form
nor bleeding hide
not my fault I was born
the two parents
I thought were mine
brought me to this world
and left me behind.

To all the enslaved
that are still in debt
I nail this note
to a wooden frame
that you still need to open.
for all of you,
that have tasted society's boot
I tell you---
bide your time
turn the other cheek
and learn to respire
you will outlast the fake
outlive all the ungrateful
and become the one true legacy.

Dear one:

You are a quiet conqueror
I know it
because your voice will make avalanches
and rouse the sleeping mountains
your words of kindness will heal others
and in doing so
it will break your own cycle.

Jasmine,
I believe all these things
and in you so strongly
for I have seen it
in a future that presently waits for you
remain steadfast
and please realize
you will do many wonders
because you are one yourself.

After being smothered for so long
I'm finally breathing on my own
peeling off the layers
that held me still
this strange freedom
that I feel
now becomes anxiety
and much too real.

You used to run beside me
but now my body is run down
all the miles together
through the changing weather
wherever I was, you could be found
ever since the silence
I miss you more now
because I finally know the math
the both of us were works in progress
with feelings always equal to this life.