They race and cram at the windows
People laughing, smiling, cheering
This mad dash, voices running ahead
the speaker staying behind, catching up
There sits a girl. No words leave her mouth
People think she won’t. But she knows.
She tries, but the words refuse to yield to her.
She pushes the words out of her throat and into
her mouth. Her tongue pushes the words to teeth
and that's were they stop. She squeezes, she tries
but the words won't leave. They can't leave.
“Are you going to look?” Asks a schoolmate
their words accusing to her and she turns away.
She can't answer. Her mouth is locked away,
Kept behind barriers. Not for use. Her lips are purely
a sign saying “Stop. Do not disturb. No one home.”
She tries sometimes, but nothing happens. The world
is unforgiving. The silent have no use in this place.
They tell her she can do nothing without words.
They act as if she decides to keep her words locked
like she decides to not interact. They say what she needs
is to stop being scared. She isn't scared. She wants to talk.
She wants to converse. To even argue. But the words.
The words are stopped. She wishes for them to go
and she tries. And they tell her, that if she keeps trying
she eventually will
speak.