Out of your reach

You ask me about my strength

You wonder how I got it

And what it is that makes me tick

And keep on ticking 

Even after I take a licking

I fought a monkey when I was five

I fought a mugger at ten

At nine I was held at gunpoint

At eleven my family split

At fourteen I struggled with relatives

Who always saw me as troublesome

Because I called out their bullshit

At nineteen I was wed

At twenty two I was a mother

At twenty six I was divorced

And then I took some lovers

Who ripped my heart to shreds 

So I left the lovers and learned how to sew myself together

Somewhere along the way I got some degrees

Somewhere along the way I fell and cried and picked myself up again

My bones tell the tale

Of all my aches and pains

Unspoken wails sit in the tight knots of my muscles

And the smile on my face hides the tears

That I hold back sometimes for days

You wonder at my calm

And at my joy

Before there was calm

There were screams for days

Before there was joy

I wept an ocean

You see me stand tall

And you see me laugh

And in your entitlement

You seek to judge

You try to break me down

Sometimes for sport

Sometines you stand in awe of me

Some days you fear me

It will take more than you to break me

More than you to make me fall

Not in your lifetime will I crumble

Never before you kow tow

Maybe that is what frightens you

Maybe that's why you judge

Maybe that is why you try to break me

Hoping that before you I will bow

Strength is earned 

By each fall we take

Courage is an internal state

Joy is a choice

I will not break in your lifetime

Try as you might

I will be like water 

Slip through your fist

The tighter you try to squeeze me

I'll melt away

Out of reach