in spite of you

every hour of honest work
every healing inside the hurt
every morning when I wake
every single breath I take
everything I am
everything I do
is in spite of you

every year of growing old
all those searches of my soul
all the times I've had to fight
for what I believed was right
everything I am
everything I do
is in spite of you

          you have tried to harm me
          since I can remember
          but sometimes I have learned
          I don't have to surrender

every second
every minute
of a life with joy within it
I will fight to my last breath
till one of us meets its death
everything I am
everything I do
is in spite of you