HOW I BREATHE

How I breathe today is hastily and

fearfully though some hardships are gone

what cuts the deepest is invisible to you.

Still I breathe with an inability

to move on from childhood cruelty

which remains entrenched in my soul.

My breathing endures your misconceptions

of who I am, who I was or who I will be

which you have emphatically wrong.

Today, I am silenced and refrained

and though I live as a recluse

still I breathe hardened and frightened.

What you don’t know is that every breath I take

is with a body wracked with crushing pain

due to many beatings and unpredicted incidents.

What you should know is that I breathe with

wounds engraved in my heart that have

damaged my character and will forever do so.

Each breath captured is engulfed

with unknown but inevitable

adversity that is unending.

With every breath my greatest hope is to

bring you to an understanding of the

hidden pain that suffocates my spirit.