I Want To Know

I want to know
How this life
Is hurting you

I want to know

Your strategies
For getting through
Tough days

I want to know
How you cope
With knowing
That many
Of your dreams
Won’t come true
 
I want to know
The hard stuff
The true stuff

I want to know

What is breaking your heart
And shaping your soul

I want to know

The good things too

The things that come easy
The things you are eager
To share

But not more

Then I want to know
What shame you carry
And the story of
Your scars

I want to know
Too much
It’s true

I really

Just want
To know you

Cry

There are days
That I face
This wild world
With courage

Days I walk tall
Though holding
The full weight
Of my pain

Days I am amazed
By all
That I am

And there are also
Many
Days like
Today

When I just need
To sit here
And cry

What I Mean

The return
Of a certain
Intensity of tone

The recognition

Of behaviors
Once subdued
With medicine

The every so often

Letting myself wonder
What my life
Would have been like
Without this

Knowing exactly

The steps I could take
To have that life

The acknowledgement

That a brain once broken
Is forever fragile
Always in need of
Protection

This is

What I mean
When I say
Mental illness is
Never over
Never easy

This is

What people
With brains
Never broken
Just don’t
Understand

I Honor

Today
I honor

The damage done

The dreams left behind

How much

It all
Still hurts

I do not wait

For validation
From those
Who have decided
That my pain is over

I only smile

At their presumption
That pain like this ends

Today

I honor me

I honor my pain

I honor my losses
I honor my sacrifice

I honor my survival

I honor my efforts

To rebuild this life
From the rubble

I honor my spirit

Which though broken
Still remembers
How to soar

Whispers

I will not fear

The changing seasons

My changing body
The changing of my mind

I will listen

When my life whispers

It’s time

For something
Different

And smile

At life’s invitation
To become
Something new

Voice

I’m sorry
Someone told you
That you didn’t
Have a voice

Convinced you

That your thoughts
Didn’t matter

Encouraged you

To be quiet
And watch others
Speak their minds

I’m sorry

No one told you
That your ideas
Could change the world

That your thoughts

Are so much brilliance

That your ideas
Shine like gold

I’m sorry for

What someone
And no one
Told you

They were wrong

Your presence matters

Your voice is needed

And it would be

Such an honor
To hear it