I hide who I am from most everyone today

I was bullied and harassed back in the day

It taught me to sit back quietly and assess

Don't allow anyone in or else it causes stress

I thought of suicide, but then decided not to do it

Mom, Scouts and Ms. Wilson were there to help me through it

First you must figure out who people truly are

Do you have things in common to take you far

Are they good people that I can truly and honestly trust

Or are they people that will enjoy making me another bust

I have to protect myself from fake people as I've learned

In that past I've often been horribly and terribly burned

I was beat up and treated like a piece of crap

Now I refuse to ever accept that type of flack

I am better than those people say and I know that now

So I sit back quietly and assess people to see

If they are the type of people I want associating with me

When I feel safe, finding common ground, I slowly allow them in

Allowing my wall to go down, and the friendship to begin

Once a person gets past the wall I have for protection

We are usually close friends with a common connection

I hold my friends close to me and allow them totally in

We laugh, we goof off, we have a great time and always grin

People don't see, the me that my friends get to see

I blame the bullies who took target practice on me

I've tried to allow people freely past the wall before

Then the self-protection automatically shuts the door

I don't know if I will ever be able to trust the word again

How do I know the bullies, won't start again this time as men

They were bad enough as kids in elementary school

That was tough to handle, but being bullied by men would be cruel

I don't think I will ever be able to trust now that I think about it that way

People are cruel to each other, it's sad, but true I am sorry to say