Before I Moved Away

Before I moved away...

My world was quiet.

I lived every day on repeat;

the same sights, the same sounds, the same people.

I whispered and wept for the thoughts I could not voice

I tiptoed over eggshells I feared to break

I listened to the same voices tell me over again how I should think

how I should feel

how I should see

how I should be

Trapped in a world I was born into

But never really lived in

Surrounded by people who all recognized me

But never really knew me

To see hundreds of faces...

and memorize hundreds of names...

and to fake a smile for each and every one...

All while they drowned me in their ignorance.

A dull existence trapped in rinse and repeat.

Until...

Until I moved away

and my world exploded into color

and light, and laughter

Then I found my Voice...

And I cried aloud, unrestrained

I rejoiced in my shouts and screams

I found a passion for life I never knew

That had always been inside me, suppressed.

Hidden, for fear of discovery.

But now I've moved away.

I have found new life in a life that found me

and saved me from myself.