There are people in and around your world who will teach you,
who will defeat you,
who will pick on you, betray you,
lock you up in dark places, slander you…

and love you.

It doesn’t matter if any of this is intended or random.
What matters is your willingness to learn
when to submit, when to cut loose
and when to look up, rise and assert your presence here.

The loneliness you feel is a hurting gift, a nudge
that says “you belong here, among the others”,
that you are co-writing this world’s enigmatic plot.
It’s a reminder that love is just over your shoulder.
You don’t need to look back.
Simply trust the dark before you.

It’s not upon the length nor roughness of your troubles
that you have to expend and muster all of your might.
No, it’s those last slivers of them,
when the straining edges seem impossible to connect,
those thrashing moments when you – and only you -
get to be the many heroes of your short, but profound, story.

Phil Baumann