Higher Life

I could have still been standing in line
with my foodstamp check in one hand
and my baby boy in the other.

I could have given up and ate my way
through each disapointment
becoming a Ogre dressed in sweat pants

I could have chosen to stay in the pit
Really……I had a lot of help down there
pulling on me to forget the Top

Where the sunlight blazed through

But light was all I saw
          Even in the darkness
I kept believing in what could be instead of settling
on what is convenient and comfortable
like driving my parents used four door and jamming to Eminem

I could still be standing in line asking for handouts

But the lines were not an option
even though the sunlight was far away from looking up from the pit
I lost all fear and jumped up
each opportunity became the vine in which I would cling to
every mundane job…finishing my education..…giving back to the community professionally

Every opportunity that I made the most of would bring me closer to the light
until the pit was beneath me

Staying in those lines would have swallowed me alive
Instead endurance was my salvation
It gave me strength to believe that
climbing to the top was possible.
that reaching for the light would bring me to a
Higher Life