The halves.

I looked in the mirror one day
And I did not recognize myself.

I saw a path that had sidestepped the conflict.

I saw everything that was wrong in me.

I saw beauty stamped on a wall in the bad part of Richmond.
It read: Love everyone.
It was partially covered by the word bloodkiller.
I laughed at the irony.

I saw love tattoo'd on a mans arm.
The picture of his children.
I asked him why he got the tattoo.
He said it gave him clarity.
He said it let him do what had to be done.
What had to be done to make a life for his family.
I shook his hand and told him
"I one day hope to be as strong as you."

I heard laughter covering up a broken heart,
As a joke went one step past the line
And shattered a happy moment,
With nasty words.
I am still sad that I said nothing.
Still sad that I did nothing.

I shed blood in an act of friendship.
Rather, a friend stood in the way of a blow
That split his lip.
It would not have been my first split lip,
But it was his.
He told me he wanted to know how it felt
To be strong under oppression.
I laughed and hugged him as I wept.
I choked out the words:
Now I know what it means to have a true friend.

I have dropped off a friend
Only to find out the next day
That he was dead.
I have thought I would die
Too many times.
I have prepared and planned for the way
To save my sister in the event of a drive by shooting.
I have been wronged.
I have wronged others.
I have spent hours on the blacktop
Staring at the flower that would not die.
I have called that flower a weed.
I have done what people would categorize as:
"What you got to do to survive."
I do not understand what that means.
I refuse to understand what that means.

I have sacrificed my entire self
To become this person before you.
And in the time that I have spent speaking before you now.
I have sacrificed myself,
To become better.

That same instant
I saw the good in me.
I saw strength and virtue.
I saw Abdul Baha's perfect example
Shining like a star.
I saw love blazing like a fiery angel inside
I saw tears of joy.

I saw everything that was right in me.