• My mind and soul shatter like a thousand tiny mirrors,
    Raining bits of myself down upon me and those around
    In a torturous Tempest.
    I am Broken.

    They laugh.
    Don’t laugh.
    You can’t see me, you don’t care.
    The collar of stereotype closes about my throat.
    I fight.

    You don’t understand, you can’t see.
    You laugh.
    Don’t laugh.
    Kindness is not weakness, caring is not bad.
    We all have good.
    Why do you hide it?
    I will be free…

    Don’t laugh at me, you wouldn’t understand.
    Don’t laugh at me, you’re fighting too.
    Yes, you’re fighting.
    But we’re different, you see…
    So different from me.
    I will be free…

    You fight for hierarchy, pack mentality, religion, or self.
    I fight to get away from this sick carousel.
    It spins and whirls and throws us off and we cling to it for dear life.
    But I am fighting.
    Will you fight too?

    But you are fighting.
    Don’t laugh.
    You laugh.
    I sit in the back and watch.
    You laugh because you’re shattered too.
    Your soul and mind shatter like so many tiny mirrors,
    Raining down bits of you on everyone around.
    But you laugh.
    I will be free…

    Why?
    Because you can’t stand it,
    You can’t see.
    I will be free…

    You avoid, you dodge, you suffocate yourself in your own misery.
    You can’t breathe.
    Neither could I.
    I just smiled and kept going,
    Drowning in faithless faithfulness to what they wanted me to believe.
    “It’s not going to change.”
    “Think smaller, you can’t do it.”
    I will be free.

    All the pain and suffering and anger and discord,
    This Dissonant Harmony is breaking me.
    But I can’t, I can’t let myself fall.
    I will be free.

    Get your cookie-cutters away from me,
    I will NOT be what you want me to.
    I will NOT be assimilated,
    I will NOT be the good, little, obedient, perfect Angel you expected.
    I will be free!

    I tear and I scream, so silently, so carefully.
    I get this collar OFF, panting with effort as it thuds to the ground.
    I will NOT be stereo-typed.
    But you still see that, don’t you?
    That band of label around my neck, you still see it.
    And you laugh at me because I am what you wish to be.
    Don’t laugh at me!
    You only laugh because you can’t deal without putting your misery on someone else.
    I WILL be free!

    No more sitting in the back, quietly watching and waiting.
    I refuse to let any of you dictate my life anymore!
    Don’t judge me, don’t look down on me.
    I have taken my shattered mirrors
    And made something more beautiful than your reflection could EVER be!
    But still you laugh.
    I will be free…right?

    I love you.
    You love me.
    Why do you still laugh?
    Why have you always laughed?
    I have to be free…

    And I accepted it…I accept it even now…
    But, no, I have to get free, even if I love you.
    You understand, right?
    You’re still trying to make a reflection…
    I love you,
    But I AM free.