Give up delicacy
Eat hardship
This is what will make you strong

Decide to face what is dark, wet and strange in your life
Deal with what you find on its terms
All things have a truth you should know

Take comfort in decay
Take shelter in story
Reside in the harsh stockade of public accountability

Be a thing that lasts
Be longer than your thoughts are loud
Be given to fits of generosity to the barely there

Trust those that scorned you
And the love that led them away
But let the gates in between you firmly close

Be temporary with your whims
And permanent with your flaws
And become, finally, a mark on the world made of light

Drop whatever doesn’t bring you completely alive
Build your house on the edge of a cliff
And never lock the front door

(Photo by Cindy Tang)