<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">The Bad Seed<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I didn’t know I had the right<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">just to be.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">There was a requirement for living,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I had to prove myself<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">account for my self,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> redeem my being by doing<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">work that costed me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I had to make <i>something</i> of myself<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">find an excuse for being,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">but nothing was good enough to gain<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">the recognition, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">validation, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 1in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">acceptance I craved<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">so one day I just said:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">let me be bad!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I no longer had to try<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">and this weathered the dismissal, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">the disapproval, <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">the loneliness,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">it made everything so easy <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">I continued to be the bad seed<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">until there was no bad left in me,<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">then I was allowed to be<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">the perfect being I always was. . .<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-indent: 0.5in;">and I started to partake in creation.<o:p></o:p></p></body></html>