“I am; yet what I am none cares or knows.”

They are all too busy to notice how I fade.

Oh, day-by-day, I fade a little more than before.

Will anyone even notice when I finally disappear;

when I go ‘poof’, and vanish in a puff of smoke?

No. No one will notice, and no one would care,

just as it has always been from the beginning.

I want; yet what I want none cares or knows.

They all have more important things to worry

about, besides my personal troubles and wishes.

What do I matter to any of them anyway?

I don’t. I don’t matter, so my needs are pushed

to the very bottom of the list of importance.

It really isn’t anything new to someone like me.

I speak; yet what I speak none cares or knows.

I am a voice to be hushed at the slightest sound,

so why should anyone care to know whatever

there is that I might like to say about any topic?

I am not smart enough to speak so freely as them,

so I might as well keep silent as always now; how

it has been since the beginning--the time of my birth.

I Am! ~John Clare