LOYALTY.

By Lisa Poem.

Within a 100 days witness me

grow to my full glory

Blooming up to 10 feet tall

in the eyes of the sun.

For my growth, time is not a suggestion

its mandatory

as my power takes root

starting from day one.

I become the backbone

to all of the connections

you seek to keep

judged by my actions

versus a feeling

you think you need.

A feeling I’m often confused for

A feeling I’m often used for

A feeling i get abused for

A feeling

I refuse to

forfeit my credit

to love.

I am not proud,

but you can take pride in me

knowing all of your doubts

can die with me

because “for better or worse”

waters the seed alive in me.

I will protect your peace of mind

with the nature of my loyalty.

INNOCENCE.

By Lisa Poem.

I am built on freedom

from guilt and blame.

The guilt of pain

staining my innocence.

Every experience with pain 

plucked a petal out of me 

one by one, every loss disempowered me

until I was naked 

with a pile of all my disappointments

surrounding the loss of my innocence

synchronous with the moment the pain

manipulated my intentions

and created tension 

between doing what’s right 

and doing what feels right.

It’s right to wake up each day

and give my absolute best

but it just feels right to be depressed

when all the petals that were plucked

out of my chest 

start fading from their vibrancy

to the dirt where they rest.

I’ve been obsessed

with the comfort of privacy 

isolating me in the shadows of anxiety where I can’t grow free 

from the lie in me.

The lie that I am too guilty 

to live in truth.

The truth that growing

can be more painful than giving up.

The truth that I lost my innocence

when I stopped living up

to my potential.

I was content ‘til the guilt

made me rot from my roots

up to my mental.

Now I’m just fed up from

looking for reasons to keep from

fighting for my freedom.

The freedom to stand naked in my truth

despite the imminence of pain

I WILL CHOOSE

TO BLOOM, free

in innocence.