I Believe

     I can barely contain myself these days, bursting at the seams with purpose and passion. It's messy business, this whole dreaming thing. It takes a heavy toll on mind and body. Long hours, always working, fighting for an inch against the unrelenting sea of disbelievers. And you think you've gained something, only to watch the tide roll over it the second you stop to breathe. I mean, this is what I've been preparing for, this is why I closed that door so many years ago. I knew it would make me stronger, I knew that every time I fell, a new day would come and I'd climb a little higher. But always from the bottom, always from the gutter. They say it's a disorder, call it depression, and I ask them if they've even been listening.

     I mean, sure, it's not easy. Sure, I've got bags under my eyes some days. But I'm not depressed, because it's worth it. Every fall, every broken bone, every mile lost to the wrong road. See, I know me, not just me, but who I really am. I know the bottom pretty goddamned well by now, but you know what I've yet to see? My upper limits. So they worry about me, lying in this alley with two broken legs, but I don't. I look up between from this claustrophobic hell, and I see the sky. So maybe I fall, maybe I fall hard, but only because I refuse to look down to where I've been.

     I write, I love, I inspire. What greater purpose is there? What truth could be more perfect, more fitting of the human condition than to be able to say I live. Every second of every day, every breath, I give to the world around me. Because I've always got the next, always got something greater to aim for then what I've left behind. And maybe it's a lonely road, maybe I'm the only one walking it, but it's my road and no one else can take it from me. And it'll all end one day, but I can promise you this, when I die, it won't be because I fell. It'll be because I flew so high, I never came back down. Just plotted out my space between the stars, and took in one last breath. And I'll smile then, just like this, and nothing anyone says will ever convince me that it wasn't worth every ounce of suffering I've been through.

Because I can fly, and I'm the only person who needs to believe it.