Despite everyone who told you to quit
You built a cast around your broken heart
And signed it yourself
You signed it
"They were wrong"
Because maybe you didn't belong to a group or a click
Maybe they decided to pick you last for basketball or everything
Maybe you used to bring bruises and broken teeth
To show and tell but never told
Because how can you hold your ground
If everyone around you wants to better you beneath it
You have to believe that they were wrong
They have to be wrong
Why else we'd still be here?
We grew up learning to cheer on the underdog
Because we see ourselves in them
We stem from a root planted in the belief
That we are not what we were called
We are not abandoned cars stalled out and Sitting empty on some highway
And if in some way we are
Don't worry
We only got out to walk and get gas
We are graduating members from the class of
we made it
Not the faded echoes of voices crying out
Names will never hurt me
Of course
They did
But our lives will only ever always
Continue to be
A balancing act
That has less to do with pain
And more to do with beauty
                - Zane Coyczan