Why do I write?
Why do you breathe?
Why do we fight?
Why do we deceive?

It all seems so conspicuous
except maybe the first.
They’re all just in our nature,
for better or for worse.

Since children we’ve been afraid of the dark
in fear of monsters and ghouls;
But as we get older we realize those monsters
are shadows of us, the fools.

You need a flashlight in order to see
and restore your point of view.
But for me in the dark, the flashlight I need
is simply a pen to write to you.

Because when I sit in a metaphysical dark
so black light can’t shine through,
I just raise a pen and write my pain
and with it, the sun rises too.

Your flashlight may be music
her light might be art.
Regardless of race, color, or gender,
we each have a light that shines to our heart.

So when you ask me why I write
ask yourself why do you see?
Because without poetry’s light shining bright,
it’d be stumbling in the dark for an eternity.