'Be Strong' Poem by Forrest Barden

I'm not lost,
So please dont come looking for me...
I am gone.
I'm in a place not warm
Or cold, not hot or freezing,
And I'm not upset.
I am alone,
But I am not lonely, I am not wanting;
Bound by freedom.
Please forget me;
I am nobody, I am nothing,
And do not wish to be.
I am numb,
And I can see for the first time
What it means to feel.
There is a place
without heartache, without sorrow, without pain...
I have made a home there.
I know what it means to die,
And finally I
Can be alive.
Don't mourn for me,
There is nothing wrong,
I am okay.
Wipe away your tears,
I am here for the moment,
But not forever.
I am hollow,
But the hollow man can gain the most
And still have nothing to lose.
Do not love me,
It is wrong for me to accept
A gift I cannot return.
I am dead,
Thus I am death,
Thus i can choose life for those around me.
Take heart,
For in the ocean are
Many wondrous things.
Move on...
I think I'll stay here a while,
And be.
Be happy,
Naivety is the gift of youth,
And the years have just begun.
Be strong,
But understand that
Even weakness is a strength.