My Own Voice

If you’ve always
Had permission
To speak

Had years of practice

Speaking your truth

Valuing your own thoughts

And expressing them
To others
Who value them
Just as much

Than you can’t know

What’s it like
To not have a voice

To have lived

Silenced
In many ways

You can’t know

The work
That being heard
Requires

How quiet it has to be

For me to acknowledge
My own true feelings
To even myself

How much space

Is required
For me to hear
My own voice

So this is why

You won’t find me
Yelling above the crowd
To be heard
 
Screaming my truths
To the world
 
Singing above
A whisper
At times

I’m still learning

To hear
The sound of
My own voice
 
So that one day
It can be shared