Everything I Know

I know how to speak the words I once let linger on my tongue

I know how to finish the songs I left unsung 

Because of the words I write that withstand time

The words on paper that I always manage to make rhyme... somehow

Rhyme and rhythm of the songs that blare through my headphones

The very ones I almost never take off because they are my own home

Away from the people I lived with for eighteen years

The very people that pretended they didn't see my tears

No other form of literature has hugged me so tight

Has given me strength and will and might

Poetry has taught me to make it through the days

When depression covers my eyes in a haze

It taught me that there is beauty in the words others have left behind

And that the sentences of our ancestors can heal the mind

They can heal the heart

They can tear you apart

They can expose the person you are inside

They refuse to give you a refuge to hide

And yet

They are exactly the comfort you need

Because they help you escape to the world you read