by Alekz Thoms, used with permission

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I wish I didn't have to say, "me too,"

That I didn't have to expect you to say the same.

But what's done is done and what's said is said,

And now we, too must keep fighting.

Life in full is pain and despair among the bliss and contentedness.

But the burden of pain isn't carried alone.

It took me years to heal from where I was bruised,

to grow from where I was buried,

But years in the ground wasn't time wasted,

It was growing, healing.

Look at the garden, every beautiful flower was once buried

Under dirt, no light let in. But,

Defiantly, they emerge, stand tall, still have sweetness to give.

And from birth to death never are they alone;

The soil, the sun, the rain, provide tender comfort.

Too many have been buried, planted, that is true.

For better or for worse. Me, too.

Planted in darkness but nurtured all the same,

Now you may see the light again.

To be hurt isn't to be killed, and to continue to rise

is the strongest thing one can do.