By: Sierrah Smalls, Damani Piper, Shakoyah Brown, Keana DuBose, Keshawna Alderman, and Tage Dasrat

Sometimes strength is accepting defeat
Resurrecting your body from the dead
Defeat is not an ending sentence
The barren ground is just an opportunity for flowers to sprout
You are forever blooming
Forever replenishing the earth
Even ecosystems devastated beyond repair
Regrow

You are a survivor.
It looks like
A woman locking tears behind her eyes hoping to disguise her tender wounds
It looks like

A man working overtime for the 5th night but still unable to provide food
It looks like

A mother carrying a child for 9 months as she attempts to finish school
A father carrying the world on his back so his son can sit and marvel at the moon

This is what strength looks like.

You tried to break me.
Bring me down and chain me,
Make me weak and shaky.
But nothing could contain me.
For I am taller
Stronger,
Moving forward.
I know I will conquer,
God has more for me.

You are a survivor.

From the smoke rises the champion
bold
with the strength of Atlas carrying the world on his back
breathing in the obstacles faced against him
only to emerge in triumph
with no weaknesses to be seen
in the depths of the coldest winters
lays within an invincible summer

This is what strength looks like.

Pain is the storm, the darkness,
That bridges candled hands together.
Hands meet hands,
Hearts meet hearts,
In the candle lit storm.
Brothers and sisters stay strong together.
And lift your hearts in strength.
Like salted wind
Collecting cloud on the sea.

You are a survivor.

Strength is to know even if the end is near
God is the smile you shine throughout the universe
To know that you are what rises in the east
And sets in our hearts
The motivation for all young girls and young boys
Because the big shoes they fill
Are the sparkly ones you made with hope
So take those 22 muscles to the moon
Because God gives his toughest battles to his strongest soldiers
And you my dear, are an army

This is what strength looks like.

You are beautiful, powerful, and courageous.
As much as life has tried to break you,
It hasn’t
Brave soldier you are strong but don’t forget
You are still human and it’s ok to have people to lean on.
It doesn’t mean you have no fears.
It just means you’re brave when you have to be,
You are a survivor.