No

A poem

Photo from Pixabay

My voice died a little that day
The day the boy kept pushing when I said NO.
Come on, he said
No
Please
No
It will just..
no
Just this once..
no…

and then I found out I never had the choice anyway.

My voice died a little more
When one by one my friends left the table
“Sorry you guys broke up but we were more his friends anyway”
I sat at the table
Quietly singing happy birthday.

With shaking hands I stacked these bricks
and built a wall instead of me.
And my cry echoed in the chamber, bouncing off all the walls
and drowning me in its sorrow.

So, I stayed quiet .

Quiet for years —
Like the stillness of winter,
Sitting in my tower,
Surrounded by people,
But always alone.

And then she came.