A book of poems, songs, and short stories .

The Tale of The Chameleon, The River, and The Wise Owl.

I walk the halls, through black and white.

A light in the night,

The light forms look on,

Friendly as ever and emitting light,

Shining always so bright,

While the nameless shadows,

With their placid, plastic smiles,

Watch with their permanently suffocating, judging stares,

Their taunting, disembodied voices assault my ears,

Filling the air, with whispers and laughs.

Yet, continue to walk, I do,

Paying no mind and daring the eyes.

Their words I hear, but they have no hold,

No longer will they sway,

No matter what they say.

Still they whisper,

Still they taunt,

Their eyes daggers,

Their voices louder,

Deafeningly demanding, like nails on chalk,

Their words hang stagnant in the air,

And there they stay;

Everything they say,

Meaninglessly worthless, as titles and turfs.

I've heard the roster,

All the names that the shadows would muster,

I'm the weirdo, outcast, and underdog,

You know, the oddball of the lot.

I used to care what those shadows would say;

I used to hide;

I used to change;

And often became lost and confused in their ways.

It did me no good,

I felt out of place, plain, and in pain.

Until confidence I gained,

And gradually they fade,

No longer did I sway,

I heard little of what those shadows of dark had to say.

Now, no more I care,

No more I hide,

No more I change,

For or in front of those eyes,

I now only do as I say,

No longer lost, unless in science, the arts, or in a page.

Never will I find another such as myself,

I'll never become like everyone else.

I'll never be a shadow, able to admit that I'm glad,

And I'll never be a light form, though try I had,

But that's just fine,

I'll never understand everyone else.

From a discolored chameleon,

Succumbing to pressure to conform,

Trying and failing, unable to blend into the norm,

To a water filled river,

Still being shaped, by everything I endured,

while growing more secure,

At long last I've conquered,

I'm proud finally to be a wise owl,

Confident in myself and my abilities,

I stay true to my truth,

No longer I conform,

Now at last finally free,

To simply just be me.