In your life
many people
may not think
much of you
Many people
may try
to impose
their way
and their values
instead of yours
Even your father
and your mother
will have different ideas
about the way
your seed should grow
 
If you hide
and shelter
within the shadows
of other people's ideas
if you are afraid to
walk out
on your own two feet
you must wilt
when the sun rises
and be satisfied

If you are a flower
Of  your own growing
when the earth
around your feet
seems poor
you must bury
your roots deeply
bend your head
if the sun is too bright
shelter your petals
if the wind is too strong
and learn how to grow
the way your heart tells you

If you are to rot
and wither
it must not be
at the hands
of other people
Weeds can only
take hold
and strangle
if you let them

no one can do
these things for you
It is in your hands
but you
and you alone
must choose to
take that control

A tree relies on rain
A fish relies on water
but you are
neither of these things

You must not let
the outside dictate the in
You must allow
what you hold inside
to spill out
wherever you are
and whoever you are with
you must search
for these things
and listen to them
and you must love
to
live