Eyes Open

    I have worn these pages so, I have read you, heard you, touched you. I have devoured all the energy around me, never before considering the destructive influence I could have. I became so used to my own stoicism, I never considered the possibility that those closest to me would be the first to burn with me. I have tasted so much of this world, and grown so accustomed to my own influences, that I never stopped to think what effect it would have on those who mattered most.

     To tell someone, I know your pain, I share it. To say, I have suffered with you, that I too have been on fire, that I too have wanted more than what I found. Life has been unkind, and I have learned to be kind in return. I have learned to take the hit and smile, to remember that as life becomes more and more unbearable, I become more and more capable of bearing it. To show someone, this is how you land, because life will teach you how to fall all too often.

     I can not return what you have given, but I can give you more than I have. That this is what I was built for, that for every muse that has altered some part of me, I can offer inspiration. I can offer my strength. I can offer me. Because the longer I am here, the more I realize; it was you, all of you, that made me what I have become.