I lashed my skin

Teaching it to bear

Insults

Just so

Patience

Would pour from my

Pulse

I beat my sides

Just so strength

Could be what I owned

For

Sticks and stones

My break my bones

But words they'll never hurt me

So long as letters

Don't seep

Too deep

For if they do

Then I'd be a prisoner

To the sins of

The tongue

So I'll bury myself

Even more

Till this courage cuts my core

For my roots

Must face the harshness

Of the winter

In order to bear summer's

sentences that splinter

I'll burn my blood till it boils

Just as the rain disciplines the soil

I'll keep tearing my limbs a little longer

While I face the pains of growing stronger