Growing Up

I was a seed.

Buried deep in the ground and

Covered by dirt, the one thing

That stopped me from seeing the sky.

They said the sky is the limit,

But I had a hard time believing that,

For at that time I was unable to see

My full potential.

I thought I was stuck there,

Grounded by something I could not control.

One day, it rained, and I felt

Alive for the first time in a long time,

Because this rain gave me a chance to

Blossom into something even better

Than I could imagine. I was disappointed

When it stopped; it gave me life,

A reason to grow, so when it left me,

The spark it gave me left too.

I knew it would come back,

But it was hard to grow without it.

It did come back like I knew it would, but it got

Harder and harder to want to grow

Each time it left me.

Unit I started to sprout leaves

And grow roots to stay grounded,

I thought I would never see the sky.

As I grew underground without

The world stopping to notice,

I learned how to depend on myself

To keep growing.

My roots reminded me of how to

Hold onto my past, even though

My past was such a small part of me

Because as I grew and met the sky

I realized that 'up' was the only way to grow

And there was nothing stopping me from

Taking control of my own future.

I decided that I wanted to keep going,

And that if I had let myself give up

Before I broke through the dirt barrier

I would not have been able to reach this point

Where I am now. It would have been

Such a shame to watch myself give up

When I was a seed; if only then I knew

What I would become.

I am a beautiful flower, still growing

And learning, and most importantly,

Not holding onto the part of me

That wanted to give up

Before I even had a chance to try to

Reach the sky.