I Am Strong
Location
When you see this soft-spoken, shy girl sitting at her desk,
You see someone weak
As I quietly doodle away on my note-pad,
You see someone distracted
When every other girl giggles and laughs with her friends,
I stoop lower into my seat
To you, I am just a failure
To you, I am lazy and stupid
In your head, you know I will never amount to anything
But what if I am soft-spoken because at home, no one will listen to me?
What if I am shy because the pain is so strong, I don’t know how to deal with it?
What if my doodles are my escape from the horrors of my own life?
What if I am distracted because I am deep in thought about how mother is abused every night?
You would never know, though, would you?
Have you ever taken the time to think
That maybe the reason I stoop so low in my chair is because I am terrified at what will happen to me and my sister when we get home
Have you ever asked me?
Maybe I don’t laugh because I have nothing to laugh about
How could I laugh when all I ever see is tears?
I am not stupid
I am not lazy
I am not weak
But is people like you who make me think I am
People like you crush the smallest hope of mine that maybe, just maybe, someday I will achieve
I am strong
I will succeed
I will succeed to prove people like you wrong