For so many years,
I've been beaten and bruised,
Cast away to the shadows.
They pushed me,
And I stayed down
Obediently
On the cold, hard ground.
The shadows surrounded me,
The only things keeping me company.
I didn't have but a friend,
So I played with the shadows in the end.
They helped me see
The light in the world
Because without it,
No longer would they be.
They hid me as I grew
So no one knew
I was changing.
No one knew I was getting stronger,
But I had to keep up the act for at least a little longer.
Every new day
Would bring a new bruise,
But every new day
Would be fuel for me to use.
I gave up on giving up,
I stood up taller than before,
And climbed out of the shadows,
I broke down the doors.
No longer
Would they treat me like this.
No longer
Would they act oblivious to my pain.
No longer
Would they cast others to the shadows.
No longer
Will lives be slain.
I remember seeing you in a corner one day;
You looked down.
It wasn't hard to figure out what was wrong,
It wasn't like finding a needle in a stack of hay.
Someone had pushed you to the ground.
Someone had cast you away to the shadows.
I frowned.
I walked over to help you off the ground,
And--
I smiled.
And you smiled.
And the day brightened with something as simple as that.
With that,
We ran.
We ran from the shadows of doubt,
Of discouragement,
Of deadly words.
We ran until they ran out.
Now here in this safe haven,
We can laugh again,
Away from the eyes of judgment,
Away from the shadows of discouragement,
Of doubt,
Of deadly words
Because all of those have run out.
