Always too terrified to slip from the wall
Afraid that I’ll accidentally step into your light
Staying behind chairs and tables
Dipping low and ducking down
One wrong move
One wrong sound
One wrong look
Could explode the bomb that is you.
Always afraid to speak up
To say what’s really drifting across the top of my mind
Unwilling to let the words slip that burrow so deep
The words that come to me in the dark
After the fire has been unleashed.
Watching you carefully
Offering compliments that keep you afloat
Taking low blows that slowly cause me to slip under.
Laughing and giggling like you didn’t cause me pain
Like you didn’t push me down
Like your words aren’t stones.
Making up excuses for you in my mind
Knowing that what you’re doing is inexcusable.
The wanna-be leader starting at monarch,
And turning into a dictator that rules with an iron-fist.
Those unforgivable actions
Forgiven in seconds for fear of an early winter breeze coming through.
Slipping silently from wall to wall
Words never passing my lips that you don’t want to hear.
Being a shadow
Always seen
But never heard.