don’t walk into my nightmares
Linda M. Crate
people fear what they do not know, and this is why they tried to strip me of my wildness; but i clung to every dark piece of me knowing there was value in it as much as there was value in my light—i refused to lose who i was because of what people thought i should be, i learned early on that there is a beauty in being myself and in being me; i remember when i wanted to be loved so badly that i let these girls make me over and they ended up using me and humiliating me in front of my peers and teachers—from that day on i vowed that i would always be me, i would always be weird, i would never be ashamed of who i was; and so i shed the expectations of others and truly began living—if you don't want my thorns and thistles then don't dare to walk into my forests because i cannot promise endless sunny days, my heart reacts to the energy in the room; if you are a nightmare then you will only receive the darkest days and nights—in the nights there are vampires, werewolves, banshees, and harpies hiding in the trees; and every other manner of dark monster some with names i do not know—i wouldn't walk into my nightmares, you won't come out alive.