I Cannot Let Them Make Me Cry

[my_hippo]

  Here is the poetic adaptation of the "impossible letter" from my preceding entry...

While curled up in the corner of a room
    Protecting myself from friends' fists,
    I whispered to the mattress and the walls,
    “I cannot let them make me cry.”

I never left that corner. Even when
    I stood and shrugged away the tears.
    And years would pass and I would still repeat,
    “I cannot let them make me cry.”

New friends would ask, “Why don’t you hurt?” and I
    would shrug and try my best to show
    I cared. But still the ceaseless voice would say,
    “I cannot let them make me cry.”

Today, she said I’d never break or peel
    away the cover from my heart.
    And left me broken and alone to sing,
    “I cannot let them make me cry.”