All by yourself

IT TAKES DISTRESS TO GROW A THING

band-aids don’t fix bullet holes
like sealed lips don’t offer relief
For a boy to become a man
he must bury himself alive
like a seed, and shoot. he would suffer from the wind, the sun, and the rain
then he grows gradually into a man.

for a man to live as a man,
he must allow himself to die too many times.

Victor Oyedele