I thought nobody cared

About the war within my soul.

I thought my problems should stay,

Never see the light of day.

 

No one wants to hear it. 

Stop whining.

Your life is good enough.

What do you have to complain about?

 

Those tears that fall,

The tales they tell.

We don't want to see them.

We don't want to hear them. 

 

Truth be told

That voice was mine.

Whispering that lie,

Telling me I don't deserve to cry.

 

It screamed for me to shut up. 

Kill your emotions. 

Kill them. 

NOBODY WANTS TO LISTEN!

 

But I saw the poems of the many,

People just like me. 

With the same problems

And they voiced their problems.

 

So I thought what if I tried?

Just let it all out in a few stanzas

Most important of all,

Don't hold back.

 

And then I scoffed at myself, 

Even as I pressed "submit."

No one is going to read this

You put yourself out to be rejected.

 

Six months later and I open my inbox

A casual move, expecting nothing

And there it was, a simple line reading, 

"You're a winner in our book. Literally!"

 

It couldn't be.

My brain whispered to me. 

Who cares what I had to say? 

And surely they wouldn't like it. 

 

But I clicked on the email. 

And I read it. 

And I suddenly felt whole

They did like it. 

 

Somewhere out there,

People I don't even know

Read my poem

And they liked it. 

 

They liked it enough to choose it.

They liked my emotions. 

They cared. 

They didn't want me to shut up. 

 

And I knew I had been lied to

NOBODY WANTS TO LISTEN

Is a LIE!!!

People want to listen. 

 

Everyone out there in this world

The turmoil of emotions swirling inside

Let it out. 

We want to hear. 

 

I want to hear. 

I want to understand. 

I want to support. 

I WANT TO LISTEN!