Hot tears peak from the crevices of my eyes 

Burning with lost passion as each run towards its escape route down my cheeks 

Forming on my pillow as one 

A sight of pain in which grief has become the cause and its effects I’m feeling in the marrow of my bones

I too will grow from this

Anticipated heartbreak encircles my skull like vultures awaiting a fresh corpse

Raging in the pit of my stomach like a miscarried child of love 

My chest regurgitates at the thoughts that ponder my mind

And yet there’s peace within the chaos I find

Am I content in my madness

Or just use to the broken pieces of my being

Pieces that cut deep into my varied layers leaving me exposed and bleeding

But what I shed whether it be blood, sweat, or tears

It is not in vein 

Just as there’s not a vein in me where my ancestors do not live 

And with that knowledge I grow 

Grow like the roots of John the Conqueror 

Whose feet dive into the body of the earth and remain rooted 

no matter the hurricane whose intentions are destruction 

I open my mind like the legs of a virgin to her first love

Afraid and nervous

For what lies ahead 

The lessons unprepared 

But what remains clear is 

I too will grow from this