Is it right for me to be tired? With all that I ask for? With all that I’m given? To embrace the sickly green veins as they bulged from my hands In pain In effort An effervescent always-present straining of the eyes Streaming of the knowledge The red in them Flowing from heart to brain Brain to heart Soul to earth Toil for soil For life to form from it Am I deserving of this pain? I will force the door until it shuts on my fingers Let you sever the bone from my body But I will not let go I asked him for strength Convinction And when my arms reached for what was beyond He shut the doors wide open