Beautiful Individuality

When I became the person I desired to be
they said no, and excluded me
They said I should conform
They said I should ‘fit in’
They said…
They said…
They said…
They said so many things, poison on their breath
floating around me, sinking within me, gradually remaking my
identity
Insincere, duplicitous, this relentless abuse
These harsh opinions
These bitter raw truths
These people, these words, this world a noose
It wipes out my beautiful individuality
until I silence. I shut down my voice.
I shut down my joy, my me, my choice
But I, I have learned the harshest lesson of all
The world
does not care if I conform
The world
does not care
Because it remembers my beautiful individuality
It remembers the person that I used to be
The person it didn’t want me to be
The person I always needed to be
The person it took
away from me