I lost my words in a room full of voices They told me who I was before I knew Hands on my shoulders, lights in my eyes Everybody wanted something I couldn’t give to you They called it help, they called it talent Called it fate, called it mine But every time they said my name I felt myself fall behind So I disappeared where no one was looking No mirrors, no marks, no stage Just dirt on my hands and time moving slow And silence that didn’t demand Quiet taught me how to listen Stillness taught me how to stand I learned my voice where no one clapped With bare feet on the land I didn’t rise from being seen I healed where no one knew Quiet didn’t take my voice Quiet gave it back to me I lived in a tent with my breath and my body Learning how to walk again Counting each step like a prayer out loud Teaching my mouth how to bend Minimum wage, hands shaking First job I could finally keep I wasn’t broken, I wasn’t small I was waking up from deep No sponsors, no saviors No one to sell me through Just a heartbeat finding rhythm And a truth I didn’t have to prove Quiet taught me how to listen Stillness taught me how to stand I learned my name without permission Written slowly in the sand I didn’t heal from being saved Or from being believed Quiet didn’t take my voice Quiet gave it back to me They thought silence meant surrender They never heard what I heard there The earth doesn’t rush your answers It waits until you’re ready I wasn’t hiding I was rooting Quiet taught me how to listen Pain taught me how to choose I don’t need a stage to speak I don’t need their truth I came back whole, unowned Still breathing, still free Quiet didn’t take my voice Quiet grew it inside me Inside me… Still here I slept on the ground with the mountain breathing Thin walls, open sky Wildcats calling in the dark Thunder in their stride Fear walked circles around my shelter But it didn’t come inside I learned the difference that night Between danger And being alive I wasn’t protected by walls I was protected by knowing myself Quiet taught me how to listen Pain taught me how to stay I learned to trust my own two feet On nights I couldn’t pray I didn’t survive by accident I didn’t make it through by chance I lived because I stayed with myself When I was scared to stand Quiet didn’t take my voice Quiet showed me how I’m still here I’m still breathing I know who I am now..
