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There are many things in my life that I have learned the hard way, after some of the most painful experiences it is possible to have. One day, I sat down and compiled a long list of the lessons I took away from it all and realized that I wanted a way to share it: a way that captured the punchlines without a long essay after each thought about how I learned it and why. I wanted it to not lose the beauty of the experience in the retelling, but I also wanted to it to be exhaustive and meaningful and concise.
So, I wrote a poem. Here are twenty-one lessons I’ve learned from when I was a young teenager to today.
Always start by asking of the why.
Love can, without reason, dawn or die.
Lots of people watch but do not see.
Only I can always fight for me.
Friends are meant to come and go at will.
Money can buy joy and freedom still.
Years will pass but feelings linger on.
Longer nights will end and bring the dawn.
Ideas often grow from endless scorn.
Family is forged with time, not born.
Every yes is saying no as well.
