For just one moment

Turn off the noise

The ads

The articles

The videos

The echo in the canyons of your mind

———

Look at what you grew through

Where we – what we- came from

Look into your own eyes

Here today

————-

Post, 9/11

Post, Katrina

Post, the financial crisis

Post, the war on terror

Post, social media

iTunes

Streaming

What is anyone reading….

————

Look at what you came through

Now, don’t let anyone

Or anything

Not even yourself…

Tell you otherwise….

———

You were built to last

You are a survivor

You matter

And even though the world will never be the same

Those of us who remember

A world before,

We lived through it,

We lived through it,

Cannot be fooled

And we will not abide

Shallow waters

We demand the depths

To wash us clean

And we will rise above it

Into the sunrise

And we will continue to seek out

A better future for ourselves

Because we have lived

A thousand lives

And dreamed a thousand dreams…

And we are still living- still dreaming- still fighting

Yes, even ourselves

But we were built to last…

——–

Through these fires…

We demand the depths…

And I don’t know that our eyes

Look at the world the same

As those who were born, after,

Or even before,

I think everyone carries their own burdens

But this is an old flame

And it changes you…

It can’t help but change you…

It hollows you out

And replaces your thoughts

With echoes of loss

It hollows you out

Bone and marrow

And builds a fire inside you

That only the moon

The ocean

And the stars can understand

I hope you understand

You were built to last

What else is there?