There’s a little me

Living in the silence,

Where the world gets loud

But no one hears my voice.

Little me knows

How it feels to be judged

By skin, by name,

By where I come from…

By things I never chose.

They try to box me in,

Tell me who I can’t become,

Blind to the fire

Burning in my chest.

Sometimes I shrink.

I stay quiet.

I let the whispers win—

“Not good enough,”

“Not like them,”

“Not meant to shine.”

But little me

Holds a different truth:

That silence isn’t weakness—

It’s a storm gathering power.

Little me reminds me

That discrimination is a wall,

But even walls crack

When hope keeps pushing.

Little me says,

“Stand anyway.”

“Rise anyway.”

“Glow anyway.”

Because every voice ignored

Still has a destiny.

Every heart broken

Still keeps beating.

Every dream delayed

Still wakes up.

So I lift my chin,

And I walk forward—

Not to prove them wrong,

But to prove me right.

Little me,

Once hushed and hidden,

Now stands with a megaphone

Made of courage—

And says loud and clear:

“I am here.

I belong.

And I will shine.”