In the Depths of Solitude

Just as I know the moon will rise after the sun has set,

Just as I know the oceans ebb from the shore to their center,

Just as I know the day begins at 12 AM and ends at 11:59 PM; a cycle,

Just as I know no snowflake is the same as the one before; as the one after,

Just as the Rose that Grew from Concrete, I am forced to exist in the depths of solitude.

I yearned for wonderous, unpredictable excitement in routine environments.

I yearned for acceptance and understanding without truly understanding myself.

I yearned for purpose in an ambiguous existence by way of enriching communities.

I yearned to live a life sans expectation to exist in a world of color and joy and freedom.

I am young and I am black and I am a woman.

I am often alone, journeying life. in the safety of isolation.

I am often finding solace in Tupac’s written word, in Tupac’s voice.

I found what I searched for in rhyme and song and paper and pen.

I found expression of myself through the words of another; a man before my time.

I exist in the depths of solitude.