Cooler than the summer breeze, I have the power deep inside that brings you crashing down to your knees. You test me with your spitefulness, disdainful as the rose's thorny kiss, yet still I rise higher than the trees that caress the clouds like a trapeze. I am the only one I know in this flock of sheep that dares to question all I hear, my senses may attempt to fool me, yet I am not held up by strings, and you are not my puppeteer. The days they blur into nights, yet the fire inside fails to be doused, my determination has ignited a strength, a will, a promise that remains devout. It fills me with the utmost cheer, as I realize that I remain, consistent until the day I die, stronger with each passing year. I have risen from the ashes, a thousand times, as my wings refuse to catch aflame, paid my dues for many crimes, no longer a victim of your social concept known as shame. You can not hold a candle to me on your brightest day, I am the star that refuses to fall to Earth, I picked up the pieces that you left behind, as I have finally caught a glimpse of my own self worth. Indestructible until the bitter end, your hate crimes are not good here anymore, as I learn to be my own best friend, I am no longer privy to your games of war. Once a lonely piece in your relentless game of Chess, I repented and caught sight of the disarray that resided within your chest, you dared to refer to it as a heart, until it denied me of the love you claimed that it would give me from the start. So instead, I turn the other cheek, and take solace in knowing that I am not weak, burn the bridge that leads to you, as I paint with vibrancy and colour, no longer restricted to sullen shades of blue. Dusk falls on your city, as your soldiers fall to the ground, this is my reprieve, my mutiny, ecstatic that my heart still beats, was lost but I am found.