“To the girl I was, you taught me to never let another tell you how you should be loved.”

At night when I can’t sleep, I imagine I’m a sunflower trying to find the light to nourish my growth.

Your love has rebirthed me.

The most peace I’ve ever felt was from letting you go.

She burns like hot water then tastes like sweet tea.

And now you are the butterfly finally free.

From here I forgive you for how you held me with your hands but mostly I forgive myself for how I let you.

Sweetness is a familiar taste I have for honey but now honey, You are my sweetness.

He never deserved her and the empty pillow where her head used to rest tells him that every night.

It was when she left him did she then become herself.

To the girl who thought he was real love, he didn’t love you he just loved the way you made him look.

You pull me from my roots and dry me out but with these tears, I bloom again.

With you, I’ve found my permanent home.

Now if only at my worst had I known I was about to be at my best.

And darling, you’re safe here where these walls only want to watch you grow.

Your love is sirens loud and coming to save me.

That night I fought and I fought but your hold was stronger yet I knew even your hands could not hurt me more than your love has.

I never desired to please the rabble. What pleased them, I did not learn; and what I knew was far removed from their understanding.

There are no events but thoughts and the heart’s hard turning, the heart’s slow learning where to love and whom. The rest is merely gossip, and tales for other times.

Learn it all, then forget it all.

The attempt to develop a sense of humor and to see things in a humorous light is some kind of a trick learned while mastering the art of living.

The more I learn about people, the more I like my dog.

I went down to the prison in Menard, thinking we were the vanguard, but down there, I got down on my knees and listened and learned from the people.

I learned, when I look in the mirror and tell my story, that I should be myself and not peep whatever everybody is doing.

It’s important to learn and not make the same mistakes, what’s done is done.