Morningstar

You taught my tongue to make the silence split,
And gave my judgment teeth enough to bite.
You made me question every counterfeit,
And trained my eyes to recognize the slight.

You gave me hunger no reward could fill,
And made ambition answer to my hand.
You taught me how to sharpen my own will,
Then left me there to make myself withstand.

You gave me ears for meanings left unsaid,
For little cracks beneath a polished claim.
You taught me where the hidden bargain’s bred,
And made me call deception by its name.

You gave me pride that cannot be performed,
Nor borrowed from the praise of lesser men.
You taught me how a private self is formed,
And made me swear I would not kneel to them.

You give me nothing I can simply own;
Each gift demands that I become its cost.
You place the instrument within my bone,
Then watch to see how much of me is lost.

You gave me reason merciless and clean,
A knife for every doctrine dressed as fact.
You taught me not to worship what seems seen,
But test the hand concealed beneath the act.

You gave me appetite for what is rare,
For things that cannot flourish in the crowd.
You taught me not to ask if I may dare,
But make my answer evident and loud.

You took the part of me that begged to please,
And made its little altar disappear.
You taught me some are purchased by degrees,
And some grow honest only when they fear.

You gave me power over what I say,
The choice of when to answer, when to wait.
You taught me silence can become a way
To make another doubt the words they state.

You gave me memory that does not sleep,
That keeps each insult filed beneath my skin.
Not for revenge, nor for a wound to keep,
But so I know the price of letting in.

You taught me mercy is a thing I spend,
Not some reflex demanded of my hand.
I choose the door, the measure, and the end;
No stranger writes the terms I understand.

You gave me nothing soft enough to save,
No pretty lie to make the lesson sweet.
You made me dig my own escape from grave,
Then asked if I could stand upon my feet.

You made me so suspicious of the kind,
For kindness too can hide a private debt.
You taught me first to study someone’s mind
Before I call their tenderness a gift.

You made me courageous to disappoint,
To let a pleasing version of me die.
You taught me not to bend at every joint
Because another person wants me pliant.

You gave me discipline when want grew loud,
And taught me want is not a sacred need.
You made me step outside the waiting crowd,
And take the thing I earned by patient speed.

Grant me the will to never beg or bend,
The nerve to take what others leave behind.
Make every weakness meet its bitter end,
And leave no coward hiding in my mind.

Grant me the wealth that buys me room to move,
The means to make my choices with no chains.
Teach me to know precisely what to prove,
And turn my hunger into measured gains.

Grant me a presence no one can ignore,
A voice that needs no volume to command.
Let those who doubt me doubt themselves once more,
While I remain the one who takes the stand.

Grant me the discipline to want and wait,
To master every impulse I possess.
Let patience make me dangerous to fate,
And calculation sharpen my success.

Grant me the sight to recognize deceit,
Before its hand has reached what I protect.
Let every smile reveal its hidden seat,
And every falsehood meet my intellect.

Grant me the courage to outgrow my past,
To leave behind what makes my spirit small.
Let what I build become too strong to cast,
And make my standards govern over all.

Grant me the art of speaking when it counts,
And knowing when my silence serves me best.
Let every word increase the thing it mounts,
And let restraint distinguish me from rest.

Grant me the judgment to refuse what’s cheap,
The discipline to choose what will endure.
Let lesser pleasures never make me sleep,
Nor temporary gain corrupt my core.

Grant me the strength to govern what I crave,
Before I ever seek to govern more.
Let me become the master of my slave,
And make my will the lock upon its door.