I'm scared
Everything keeps falling apart
Foundations upon which I once stood
are crumbling down
and I can't stop it
but I can still keep smiling
They can take away my rights
They can beat me down
They can outlaw my people
They can take and take and take
But the one thing they can't take
is the smile on my face
I can find a reason to smile
Even when I'm crying
Even when I'm scared
I won't let them take my light away
My beautiful rainbow light
that I spread through my smile
My light has so much in it
pain and sorrow
love and joy
spite and kindness
everything that makes me me
and I can show it all through a smile
They will never take it away
No one will ever take it away
not my name
not my identity
not my light
not my smile
Mirror, Mirror, what do I see?
My own self-loathing reflected back at me
I've changed so much, and yet
all I do is look in you and fret
My face isn't the same at all
I'm even learning how to walk tall
but I can only see what I believe:
this self-doubt that never wants to leave
So I'll repeat day after day
the affirmations I've learned to say
in the hopes that I'll make it real
that it will become the way I feel
I'll cast away these feelings blue
the feelings, Mirror, Mirror, I can't hide from you
Sometimes
Life hits HARD
too fast to react too strong to take too much to bear and I have to stop and rest
When I do
I realize I wasn't ready
Life was worse
than I thought it'd be
It's so easy
to become jaded
to assume
Life will always be
this bad
Sometimes
Life surprises me
it's soft and calming, gentle and kind, warm and loving
Life is looking out for me
I realize
Life was better
than I thought it'd be
It's so hard
to take Life
one day at a time
But I still have
those moments of kindness
to remind me
That Life isn't always as bad
As I thought it'd be