Topsy-Turvy Ride

Life is a bitch;
A rollercoaster.
It's merely signing a lease for the unknown.

You're sheltered for at least some of the time,
In one form or another.
Raised in a small or big family.
With a single parent, both, adopted, or none.
Below the poverty line, middle class, or wealthy.

Sometimes you assimilate to the surroundings like a chameleon.
Sometimes you stick out like an oddly-shaped formation.
Sometimes you know who you are and are rewarded or denied.
Sometimes you're confused, and you don't know what direction to take.

Then comes the point to continue to college, or take on different paths.
A time where you figure out if you have enough to go, or not;
Sometimes even if you are or aren't cut out for it because people cut you down to scraps.
Sometimes you find yourself or become new and stronger.

There comes a time to survive.
Experience dark days and even brighter nights.
Leases, rent, bills, student loans, jobs, food, companionship, death of loved ones, abandonment, douchebags, roommates, depression, kids, business ownership, and much, much more ups-and-downs.
All swirl together like a never-ending storm competing for attention.

There is a time where you will cycle between good and evil.
Either feeling you're on-top-of-the-world,
Or feeling there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
You will cycle, and the cliche is true: It Does Get Better.

There will be so many moments.
Big, or small like grains of sand.
Life in respect is beautiful,
Though still a bitter bitch.

There will also be a time when the lease runs out.
Whether you're young, or middle-aged, or elderly.
Whether it's quick or slow.
Death is not a looming, dreadful thing.
It is just a price.
Something worked hard for.
And a stamp for completing a life no matter how it's lived.

Struggle #4 (Junior Year)

From the 11th grade me

The teasing never ceased...
I still couldn't trust anyone.
I started building a harder shell.
I started to close myself to everyone.

I felt I was going to come apart.
I started Cross Country to get rid of the anger.
It barely helped, but it was the only thing I could do.

No one knew how hurt I was.
I suffered in the background.
No one understood me, not even myself.

After one meet I ran an opponent called me a faggot
for beating him in the race.
The officials never caught it to disqualify him.
I cried after that happened and the assistant coach
came over and hugged me.
Even though she thought it was about the race, it was still comforting.

The rest of the year, I still couldn't go down
the hall without hearing slurs of hatred.
I just kept chugging along because I dreamt of a life
outside of that Hell's four walls.
I escaped yet another year.

Life

There is no cure for how we feel.
Yet some folks think the only out
is by looking down a loaded gun
With the whispers of those who'd done wrong to them.

Some don't realize their lives meant more
Than they thought it did.

Life is what you make it out to be.
Live it as you please and let no one take control.
Because all you need is an old guitar,
Some good friends,
And a fifth of Jack.
Yeah, that's life.

It just gets better as we go along.
It's never too late to go back to the good times you had.
Because they're still left inside of us.
It takes the greatest courage to dig down deep to move on.

Life is what you make it out to be.
Live it as you please and let no one take control.
Because all you need is an old guitar,
A good love,
And a fifth of Jack.
Yeah, that's life...

One day we'll find that hope
And easier ways to cope.
One day soon we'll all live freely
And be who we ought to be

Life is what you make it out to be.
Live it as you please and let no one take control.
Because all you need is an old guitar,
Some good friend,
A good love,
And a fifth of Jack.
Yeah, that's life....

That's life...