I see you
Dragged through Life’s streets by your hair
Shown things many others are saved from
Felt things that broke you in pieces you may not recover from
I’ve watched the world eat you up and spit you out
And you lay there
Heaving from the pain
Pain that cannot be seen or touched, only felt
The scars on your heart mending themselves, all to be torn out again
In some new and sick way
In some way you never deserved
In some way you could never have imagined
I see you
You’ve had to claw yourself out from death
Day after day
Night after night
You’re not like the others
I’ve watched you fight back, barely standing
Throwing punches at this life that repeatedly beats you
You’ve had to fight
You were given an opponent in a battle you never asked for
In a fight you never agreed to
You’ve had no choice but to fight
Tooth and nail
For every single good thing
It’s ingrained right there in your DNA
You know it’s there
That spirit that refuses to die
It was never luck
It was never privilege
It was sacrifice and pain and blood
These are the cards you were dealt
In a game against your will
Just chance
Just raw, unhinged agony
I see you
I’ve watched you get kicked while lying down
The world has brought you to your knees in more ways than one
But each succeeding hit just amplifies the hit before
And you’re tired
You’re so tired
You keep screaming out to the invisible referee
Saying that you surrender
But it’s fallen on deaf ears
And I’ve watched you get up
In the arena
The crowds cheering your adversary’s name
Time and time again
And each time you rise
Like the embers in the fire
Moulding to the wood
Until you and the fire are indistinguishable
You will burn for a while
Don’t expect otherwise
And you will likely burn over again
That is part of it
Because Life has shown you its jagged mouth
When you were far too innocent to bear its face
But I see you
Gathering the remains
Stringing the pieces together like pearls on a necklace
One by one
A pearl for every broken limb
Because that’s what you do
Life brings one more
And you say,
‘I still have fight left in me’
Rise up, tenderheart
You know how – you’ve just forgotten that you do.