Poetry Chose Me 

I didn’t choose poetry, poetry chose me 

I didn’t ask to be able to express myself better with the written word than I could ever speak 

I didn’t ask for the ability to change hearts and minds 

I didn’t ask for the pain of being a poet of screaming into a void 

One doesn’t choose it one simply is 

Sure, anyone can write poem or two but that does not a poet make 

They don’t live and breathe words  

They don’t have a million half formed ideas floating through their heads 

We didn’t ask for the need to speak truth to those unwilling or unable to hear it 

We did not ask but we were given the power to change the world 

We were given the power to transform words into something more 

To transform feeling into words 

Words into meaning true meaning to strike through the hearts of mankind 

Long after we’re gone our words will still carry meaning and weight 

We struggle and fight in our minds to find the right words to carry the weight of our messages 

We did not ask to be poets but most of us wouldn’t change it for a thing 

Poetry is born from pain and learning 

The kind of understnading that only come from walking through the flame 

And coming out singed and burned but still alive 

It’s what comes from surviving the storm and learning to dance in the rain 

No mother looks at their baby and wishes for them to be a poet 

No father begs the fates for that fate for their child 

We are chosen by the hard times and compressed into a diamond by the harshness of life 

Waiting to be found as a diamond in the rough by the masses.