Never Asked Only Told

Never ASKED Only Told
by Josef John

I never asked to be who I am.
I was told to be quiet. Told to be good. Told to be something else.

This is the story of the silence I was raised in -
the bruises you don't see, the words that never leave your mouth,
the love that feels like war.

Told in memories, poems, diary entries, and heartbreak,
this is me - trying to breathe inside a house that never felt like home.
Trying to love when I was taught to hide.
Trying to become something more than what they wanted.

It's not perfect.
It's not clean.
But it's mine.
And I'm still here.