it was a hundred-years worth of trying,
when i forced myself to never give up.
time became a bigger disappointment,
but me; a reinforcement.
a shield that could never be broken.
a paper boat that could never tear in the waters, and would float to the oceans and skies.
i have broken my nose and cracked my lips, i have tears drying up on the pores of my skin, i have fatigue nestling inside of my head; but the limit never strained as the clouds part ways.
they cheered me on, fed me water and built my shelters. i made them cry and went down on their knees. i took years to grasp their words and it's taken me a decade to be better than worse.
superlatives and comparatives; fugitives and accomplices;
secretive and dangerous;
i had been all the list.
i had been a match that broke and never start a fire,
i had been a fabric never warming a skin,
i had been inefficient and inadequate; and now i realize; had been.
maybe antonyms of those are what i should be,
maybe a shelter myself is what i should be,
maybe being the warmth itself is how i should begin
maybe a fire myself is how it's supposed to be,
maybe it took years;
but no one said it was easy.
