Stand up for yourself. brush it off. be brave. move on. be strong.

Beaten to silence. mouth sewn shut. eyes filled with dew.

Stand up for yourself. brush it off. be brave. move on. be strong.

You don't know where I came from. You don't know where I've been.

You've never had dirt under your nails.

You've never had the tears dry out in your eyes.

You've never choked on the lies your mother fed you as a baby.

You've never bled from your own skin, from your own knife, in your own hand.

You've never felt the pain of the abandonment from your mother when she said she'd be right back.

You've never felt broken by the hate of a man who calls what he does to you "love."

You've never felt this. 

You don't know. 

I'm covered in blood and you don't even have mud on your shoes, but you tell me:

Stand up for yourself. brush it off. be brave. move on. be strong. 

I am not okay.