Tag: empowering

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Can’t know joy if I don’t suffer
Can’t know peace without disorder
Can’t know health without discomfort
Can’t know spring without the winter

Can’t know calm if I don’t know pain
Can’t know love if I’ve never known hate
Can’t know light if the loads never weighs
Can’t know freedom if I’ve never been caged

Can’t ever rise if I never drown
Can’t truly smile if I’ve never frowned
Can’t move forward without going around
What comes up, eventually comes down

– Rachel R. Vasquez, 1/24/2015
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

 

I was inspired to write this from an excerpt in Sophie’s World:

If we were never ill, we would not know what it was to be well. If we never knew hunger, we would take no pleasure in being full. If there were never any war, we would not appreciate peace. And if there were no winter, we could never see the spring.

Never Yield

I won’t cry
and I won’t kneel
I won’t die
and I won’t yield
Even when I hurt
I will heal

Can’t tear me down, won’t wear me down,
I’ll hold fast through the storm
For I am strong and
The dark never lasts too long

No matter the war, no matter the battle,
When life gets hard, I’ll rattle
these chains
Till my wrists bleed
No matter how black, no matter the fog,
The rain
won’t make me weep

Can’t wreck my spirit
Can’t make me wilt
Can’t make me succumb
Can’t break my will

Even when I’m lost
I won’t shatter
Even when the winds blow
I won’t be tattered

God only knows how blind I feel some days
But I’ll keep fightin’ them tides, crushing them waves,
I’ll square these shoulders, harden my faith,

Because I’m 100 pounds
of reinforced heart and soul
Won’t snuff out my spark
Won’t make me fold

Even when I’m tired
And my limbs ache
I’ll stoke my fire
and challenge my fate

I won’t bawl
during my ordeals
I’ll stand tall
and I’ll never yield

 

– Rachel R. Vasquez, 1/24/2015

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.