Falling Toward the Moon

You’ve got to empower

every human you love

and empower yourself

to be good

to those you don’t love.

I can see it in your sad eyes.

Sometimes,
you feel like you’ve spent
your whole life
planning
for a future that isn’t certain.
Chasing a love
that doesn’t exist.
And worrying about
a past that doesn’t even matter.
And this is what your life
has turned into.
Stressing over the unknown.
Overthinking about people
you’ve never even met
and dwelling in moments
that drown you,
instead of the ones
that push you
toward the shore.

Beautiful human beings
come and go.
So there is no reason
to believe they were
the one.
You’re going to think that
about everyone
you fall in love with.
You’re going to believe
that’s “the one” each time.

People aren’t meant
to hurt you . . .
and all the things you feel
aren’t meant to bring you closer
to your doom.
Because everything around you
is a lesson waiting to be learned,
and how you let it
affect you
is completely up to you.
So cry now and laugh later . . .
it’s okay . . .
because something better
is on the way.
Just stay humble,
learn from your mistakes,
and keep your heart open
for when the right
opportunities come.

The other night he used words he should have never used in a tone that was unacceptable. He said things that shook my soul but made you cry, and this is where I draw the line, and yet I used to ask myself all the time. How could someone like you find your mind in shambles and your heart in a pit and now I know that he was part of the reason for most of that shit. He didn’t leave completely but he was there enough. I know this because instead of depending on him, you ventured out into chaos in search of love. A love that you knew nothing about because the people who should have loved you enough to keep you safe chose to leave you out . in the wilderness where wolves pace back and forth in search of prey. A child with enough courage to take risks but not old enough to understand the consequences of being a daughter to a mother and father who couldn’t be what you needed most. You were reaching for the stars, and they should have been the clouds, yet they caused the rain. Forcing you to struggle through the storm but that wasn’t your fault and it still isn’t. I can recall that one Thanksgiving where he seemed ungrateful or the Christmas where he entered our loving home seeming hateful. Your father taught you to settle for less, but you had the courage to give someone like me a chance. Someone different with something different to offer. Someone who could never treat his daughters the way your father has treated you.

who knew the heart

could rain

thunder forming

within the soul

but storms teach us

how to be stronger

we all have cloudy skies

to overcome

oh the nights

i wasted on you

using whiskey

to bury my memory

of us

staring into the moon

for answers

to questions

i was too afraid

to ask out loud

consumed by the silence

of the void

i was trying to fill

desperate to feel

something other than pain

struggling to free

myself from you

those nights broke me

and yet made me stronger

cry

empty yourself

of feelings

that no longer

deserve to be felt

cry

until you are free

the world dealt you shit

but your grit

keeps you alive

you are a moment

of truth

in a sea of lies

fighting to stay afloat

swimming against the current

determined not to drown

bound for glory

bound for love

you never let

yourself down