small but strong

Sometimes when I speak, I feel my voice is slipping
past the ears and understanding of the world
As if I were, somehow, less of a person
less important, less deserving than my peers

Those who call themselves strong and powerful
those who think themselves unassailable
to all of you I say, there are no human fortresses
All that is real for us is pain and tears

Not everyone believes themselves invincible
the world resounds with cries and hollers for attention
but some of us, the meeker sweeter ones
sit and hurt and bleed inside,
Feelings turn to varices, until time
forces the haemorrhage

Olivia Harris