I am now several months into my twenty-first year,

And I am a man grown. I have no illusions about my life,

Just a lot of unanswered questions.

I do not know where iI will end up,

Only that I am now free,

But I did not know that I would have three long years ahead of me,

And that my struggles were just beginning.

I emtered a program called shared living, and I found it was a mirror image of my home life.

I had no freedom, no room to move.

I felt myself slipping, falling fast into that dark void.

In the past threee years, since the age of twenty-one,

I have been beaten, i have been hungry;

I have been homeless, I have been ridiculed;

I have been near defeat,

I have triumphed over everything thrown my way.

Through it all,

I persevered.

I overcame great obstacles, an lost footing,

Then regained my stead, advancing several feet from a backwards tumble.

I have met resistance, I have pushed through some with ease,

At times blazing a quiet trail through life like a knife through butter.

At others, I have met a strong front, and nothing I could do or think of trying could get me through.

Then I met my love,

And my loe kept me through,

And held me close through the toughest and most trying times.

She is not with me in person, but always is with me in spirit.

I have no qualms about what I need to do,

But feel that I’m at fault for her being where she is.

I was the catalyst in the coming storm,

And when my world fell apart,

It blazed with all its profound glory.

I was defeated in spirit,

In heart and soul,

But my bottomless reserve of willpower,

It has never faltered.

I overcame, and have been struggling with choices to make,

Some good,

Some bad,

and others could go either way with certain plays of life’s cards.

I have been imprisoned, I have been wronged.

I always overcome,

And I always will,

For however long it takes.

I am a survivor,

First, last ,

And I always persevere.

Always.