Be the teacher.
Be the mentor.
Rise up
and lift others along the way.
Teach our future leaders.

You're like the Joker.
Every time someone asks you 
about your scars
you give them a different answer. 

Don't forget to thank your Older Sister.
She's your mother, too,
the one who never asked for kids. 

If I could bake my heart away,
I would.
And I'd ask you to eat it.  

When I'm lost inside my mind
and there's no way out
from the deep dark strikes
of my pen
I remember the blue sky.
Nothing could be worse
than this feeling
never passing by.
I'm lost in a fury of my emotions
and I forget who I am.
I don't like the person I remember
I was when I was so angry that 
all I could do was shake and swear.
But you remember the me that's always there. 

My soul is made of green fire
road-mapping its way through
my body
like roots
sprouted
from the hair
of Mother Nature herself.

When I breathe
I fuel my own fire.
I speak words of lightning, 
calm like thunder.
My rolling soul never rests, 
but is never uneasy.
My heart is at peace. 

You can wear all the makeup 
you want; it's your face.
But don't ever cover
the bags beneath your eyes. 
You earned them:
your badges of strength 
and never-giving-up-ness.
Wear your gray bags with pride. 

If I could choose a way to die
it would be by a fir tree
growing from my lung.

At least I would give life to something new, 
something beyond me.