The Truth of Life

The truth of life:

it sucks, and then you die.

My mother and her mother’s

motto for this existence.

Those six words

had no true meaning

until my grandmother passed

and I realized

her life lacked purpose.

But then again

maybe not.

Because from her,

I learned to be tough

and sharp as a razor.

To protect myself

by moving faster

than the other guy.

To get louder

when my words

would not suffice.

To be angry

at everyone

and everything

because of the way

the world is.

But from her,

I also learned

that family

comes first

always.

And love

is not permanent

but that doesn’t mean

it leaves you empty.

When it comes

to love

our cups runneth over

where our wallets

do not.

And from her

I gained my

tenacious spirit.

So now I fight for

what I believe in

more than she

ever did.

And I think that would

make her proud.

From my mother,

I learned more

about how hard

life can be

and the pain

it can inflict

upon us.

How we must

take that hurt

and use the

blood, sweat,

tears, and scars

to make something

beautiful to share

with the world.

She taught me

math, science,

and language -

my favorite of

all the subjects.

She showed me

how to string

one word after

another and

make it art.

She held my

hand through

adjectives, nouns

and verbs when

they were too

difficult to navigate

on my own.

She built me

a place to hold

my head high

when I could

not stand up

for myself.

She let me fall

on my knees, knowing

I would land

where I was meant to.

Together they

taught me

that pain

is a constant

but without it

we would not exist.