Branches Book

BRANCHES

Remember seventeen is only twelve months long and high school is only forty eight months,

You grew up with the weight of the world on your shoulders and you’ll soon feel like you’re in the world instead of sinking under it.

Remember your skin is only part of your armor

but it’s the first one the world ever gave you

and it bares your bruises no matter how many times you’ve fallen to your knees.

An Apology to My Body

I’m sorry that I haven’t loved you as well as you’ve deserved. I know that your hands are capable of creating artwork and your chest has a heart in it that keeps beating even when it breaks. I’m sorry your lungs have started to burn, that I didn’t do anything to stop it. I’m sorry for all of the bruises you bare on your knees,

that I didn’t catch you before you scratched your elbows. I know the pain in your rib cage is a result of things I did to make it that way, I know that I am the reason

you can’t breathe. I didn’t grow up wanting to leave these scars

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