Butterfly Riot

Butterfly on my

knuckle,

still learning how to land

Soft wings over

old scars, tracing where I stand

I grew from the cracks where the cold rain sat Shoes full

of dirt, still I carried my back Had a name in my

mouth that I never said right

Had a fist in my chest every day,

every night Now I write like a blade on a table of

wood Cut truth from the lies that were dressed up as good

Butterfly, don't pity me,

I earned every stripe From a crawl in the dark to a

hard sudden flight Hold me where the air gets thin

I can feel a change begin

All that weight beneath my skin Starts to break and let me

in Butterfly, open up the night Take these broken colors into light

Butterfly, I was born to try Lose the ground and learn the

sky

Butterfly, stay with me awhile

Through the hurt, through the fire,

through the mile

They said keep your head low,

keep your hands clean But the world gets mean where the rent

stays lean I saw good men bend,

saw a bright heart rust Saw love turn cheap when it mixed

with dust Still I kept one tune in the pit of my

ribs One breath, one chance,

one life that lives If I rise,

let it show every bruise I survived Not pretty,

just true, that's the proof I'm alive I don't need clean hands

to touch the sun I don't need new skin to become someone

If these wings shake,

let them shake undone

Butterfly, open up the night Take these broken colors into light Butterfly,

I was born to try Lose the ground and learn the sky

Butterfly, don't fold away I made it here,

I'm here to stay