Thick Skin

It is in you all the time, whether you see it or not It lingers in your mind though it seems something you forgot How to believe in yourself, how to know for certain That you stand proudly behind the closed curtain But once the rope is pulled and the slack is taught When the voices hush and the light is hot Upon your face When your mouth is dry and your heart begins to race You close your eyes to summon it You can hear the whispers in the crowd though you try not to succumb to it You begin to make out the words You begin to feel the weight of the hurt And you put yourself in a box that you can never be bigger than Closing slowly over time, crushing your will to stand And once where you were so proud, so confident, so sure Now you've allowed others to dictate your future But that voice inside you is always there-sometimes loud, sometimes quiet It can hide among the faces or it can raise its fist and riot And you will ask yourself all your life why you sat on the si...

I left As the city took its first breath  of morning And I am scorning these bridges for Letting me get closer And then sending me further apart From you and that heart The mountains are calling out to me Be steady but the birds are calling too and I just want to fly away with you One thing I know for certain Is that the butterflies in my stomach are fluttering Because you have been so sweet to me Dripping honey Off of your tongue With every song you’ve sung I carry your music with me always The way your body sways When you walk The way your lips move when you talk The way your hair frames your face The way your eyes chase The sun on a summer day I am carried away

I was with you when you turned 30 The age that women Begin to question The trajectory of their lives Whether it's stagnant or it climbs Ever upward, ascending Into their destiny It's something I admire in you The flicker in your eyes For you know you are a dreamer in your heart of hearts But sometimes it's hard to piece the parts together When you are weary from persistence Working coals into diamonds in your fists Trying to keep up with the demand With cuts on your hands And it's no wonder that you're tired It's hard to dream with anchors at your feet I’d give anything for you to feel free Free to hope and believe In the abilities That you possess Often I look at you in awe and witness How spectacular you are And I know you see it too That you are a star And you’ve got things to do Things to prove To yourself And I want to clear the path in your mind Tear away at the clutter, at the ties that bind You to disappointment and grief I...