The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Well, son, I'll tell you:

Life ain't been no crystal stair.

It's had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor-

Bare.

But all the time

I'se been climbin' on,

And turnin' corners,

And sometimes goin' in the dark

Where there ain't no light.

So boy, don't you turn your back.

Don't you set down on the steps

'Cause you fins it's kinder hard.

Don't you fall now-

For I'se still goin', honey,

I'se still climbin',

And life for me ain't been no crystal stair.



-Langston Hughes

nobody can save you but

youself.

you will be put again and again

into nearly impossible

situations.

they will attempt again and again

through subterfuge, guise, and

force

to make you submit, quit, and/or die quietly

inside.



nobody can save you but yourself

and it will be easy enough to fail

so very easily

but don't, don't, don't.

just watch them.

do you want to be like that?

a faceless, mindless, heartless

being?

do you want to experience

death before death?



nobody but you can save

yourself

and you're worth saving.

it's a war not easily won

but if anything is worth winning then

this is it.



think about it.

think about saving yourself.



your spiritual self.

your gut self.

your singing magical self.

save it.

don't join the dead in spirit.



maitain yourself

with humor and grace

and finally

if necessary

wager you life as you struggle

damn the odds, damn

the price.



only you can save your

self.



do it! do it!



then you'll know exactly what

I am talking about.



-Charles Bukowski

You may write me down in history

With you bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise





Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.





Just like moons and like suns,

With certainty of tides,

Just like hopes spring high,

Still I'll rise.





Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops.

Weakened by my soulful cries.





Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own back yard.





You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me wiht your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But sill, like air, I'll rise.





Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?





Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from the past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

-Maya Angelou