My legs ached, yesterday and today;
The blood tumultuous within them.
Probably from climbing those steps a
Thousand times, it feels like. Up. Up hill.

Mom cries. I hate it, watching, all that
Hopelessness in her eyes. It wrenches something
Inside, all my nerves. It makes my dreams mutate,
Climbing those stairs. Struggling to rise. Knowing

That tomorrow I’ll fight to ignore it just so I can
Keep ascending. No one ever told me that when I
Grew Up I’d have to give away every dream
Of a world filled with light instead of despair.

Maybe if I keep climbing these stairs… maybe
Maybe I’ll find it then. Pushing my legs against the
Earth, kicking it away from me—fighting to keep rising,
To forget and remember the pain and the light, all, all together…