When I was merely 3 years old,

my maker, my mother left our household.

I was told she was up above,

up above looking down on me.

and being merely 3

I could be moulded,

moulded to believe anything, everything.

I was called gullible.

 

Fast forward a couple of years,

to an almost blind 3rd grader.

My eyesight began to disappear,

an unending fear developed in me.

Wearing those glasses was not only an invitation,

but a humiliation, a termination of my physique.

I was called four eyed freak.

 

The torment didn't stop there.

I would cringe to the thought of going home.

My mind would fill with fear and my heart with despair.

Being the youngest of 3, I was subjected to mistreatment.

I would be spit upon, tortured,

wound up with rope and thrown in the closet to be forgotten about.

I was called loser, useless, not good enough for the standards of our generation.

 

The sad part is that I believed, every word,

whether it was shouted or whispered.

I believed.

Gullible, four eyed freak, loser, useless, not good enough!

That was me!

 

Then one day I realized the problem.

I became those words not because that's who I was

but because that's what society made me out to be.

A wanna be girl who desires,

No! Craves, craves the thought of fitting in.

But that wasn't me.

 

I’m not defined by the words and misconceptions of others,

but rather by the unheard actions and interwork connections.

My name is Shelby!

Who I am , who I was, who I am yet to be.

Shelby isn't just another name written down in a baby book,

No!

I am courageous, I am bold, I am a christian.

An adventurer.

A girl at heart who only dreams of being a woman.

 

My hands never go a day without work,

my legs grow tired from the places I have been.

Shelby is not just an ordinary girl,

she has rhythm.

Thorny to the eye but smooth to the touch.

I am a righteous liver, a truthful speaker.

I am not just an ordinary girl!

I am not just an ordinary girl!

I am my own legacy, I am me.

 

I learned that the first step to getting somewhere

is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are.

The path to success is a series of calculated leaps of trust,

leaps of knowledge, leaps of faith,

insuring your steps won't falter.

 

I am who I am because that's what I was meant to be.

I may be gullible,

or a loser, or useless in the eyes of the world around me.

But when it comes down to it, war never ends quietly,

and I won't let my legacy be created by those who are jealous of me.

I am me!

I am Shelby!