Midnight

Remember to breathe and laugh all the time,

Even when you feel you can’t.

When you start to miss home and school starts to weigh on you,

Still laugh

Breathe.

Remember everything is all for a moment.

Only for a time

So don’t stress.

Appreciate all the long nights

The readings, the textbooks, the 3 cups of coffee you take to make it through the day.

Study, study hard.

And when it starts to take a toll,

Do something unexpected

And childish.

Act someone else’s age.

Run in the rain on a Tuesday night.

Make friends with a stranger on the bus.

Dance with friends on the quad.

Smile on your worse days

And be grateful for all the hardships and pain

The tears and the hurt

For all the late nights in your friend’s arms.

Remember to walk tall and strong.

Even when others tell you to look down,

You look up.

Throw your hands up and sing

Or dance or both

With everyone watching you strange

Cause you can

And you will.

Be presence and here,

Make your space known.

Make it yours with that way you speak;

The way you roll your tongue like roaring rivers.

Voice be a waterfall.

Hips a mountain, legs a valley.

Lift your head up proud,

With hair as crown on your already gold skin

Which is to say, your body is nothing less than holy temple

Than something to be praised and cherished.

Cause even on your worse days you are deserving of love and happiness and joy.

Remember this,

Take a deep breath, smile

And don’t forget to laugh.