“I stayed with him hoping to discover a remedy to my pain.”

Those places will never be the same they are forever intertwined with the thought of you.

Darling, let go I promise you will never want to carry that pain again.

Her name is foreign on my tongue, I repeat it over and over and over in my head hoping one day it will sound familiar.

I was searching for relief in places I would never find peace.

She bloomed from the depths of darkness through the cracks she was brought to life by the sun.

I am ready to love the pieces that are weighing me down.

We were playing hide and seek with our shadows simply pretending to grasp for love we could not find in ourselves.

My mind is entangled in the thought of you.

She wanted someone that could swim to the depths of her ocean and not drown in the intensity of her soul.

I feel at home in places I’ve never been.

I am trying to find a way through this dark forest.

An endless fire burns within me whispers in my ear and encourages me to grow past what I can see.

My insecurities gave you too much power over me/ you were the catalyst to my healing/ but you are not the healer/ I am.

When will the leaves begin to change in this body of mine?

Be your love and watch the world change.

And she rose exactly when she was ready to spread her wild wings and release the fire hidden deep in her soul.

Once you do away with the idea of people as fixed, static entities, then you see that people can change, and there is hope.

Before my death I hope to obtain my life

If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America.

Sometimes we have to do the work even though we don’t yet see a glimmer on the horizon that it’s actually going to be possible.

It takes courage to choose hope over fear.

Sometimes you can’t understand your own feelings, and that’s totally fine.

We have vowed to make the new era peaceful and hopeful.

The trick is to never lose hope!