Where I come from

I have heard it repeated,

Like a snoozing alarm. 

Listen, they said,

Dreams are free

But the hustle is,

Sold separately.

I agree not. 

Hustling is dirt cheap, 

And everyone does it, 

It’s so cheap, influencers do it. 

And the dreams are phantom visions,

Felt only in fleeting moments of intense clarity.

Such as the first time you realized,

Everything you have ever loved, you have loved all by yourself.

You pay to dream here. 

And the cost is dear. 

You pay it with friends,

With family, with the understanding they have

of who you were, before, you dreamed.

You pay it with sanity and sanctity,

And when it often comes down to it,

With your life.

Listen now, carefully if you wish.

When a worthy dream resolves,

The hustle comes easily enough. 

But where I come from, know my friend,

The dreams ain’t free.