I am

I am not that meaningless thing they all see

I wonder why it’s the name I respond to

I hear it so clearly as though written in the wind                                                  

I see it’s letters painted sweetly in the rain

I want so deeply to paint a new name to hear a new sound                                                           

I am now an artist

I pretend to like the paint                                                    

I feel as though I have no choice

I touch the brushes and hate the coarse touch

I worry this shall be my only way now

        I cry because now I have to change

I am now a mime

I understand to keep quiet only show the face people want

I say nothing

   I dream of something new so people could still see

  I try so hard but I know the worst has come

    I hope to find something new but

        I am still running from the painted name they drew out for me

I tried to erase the lines

But the letters stained so deep that they weren’t easily removed

The name they all wrote had stuck because now I colored the letters in

With every step I took I believed it

With every step the words were carved deeper

What am I now?

I am?

I am?

Nothing

That was that familiar name

The one that was carved so deep

I am nothing