Hazrat Usman
A lover of technology and Books
They said they believed in me. But they only showed up after the crowd did. When I failed silence. When I cried empty chairs. When I broke no one flinched.
By Hazrat Usman Usman6 months ago in Poets
I close my eyes but the past keeps playing like a film I never asked to watch. It doesn’t rewind. It repeats. Over and over until it feels like now.
They said I was funny. Said I lit up every room. But no one asked what it cost me to shine. No one asked why my eyes never matched my smile.
They said, “Be strong.” So I broke quietly. They said, “Be a man.” So I buried every tear in my throat. They said, “Don’t talk about it.” So I learned how to smile with a storm behind my teeth.
You didn’t say goodbye. You didn’t need to. The silence said it all. It came in waves not crashing, just slow and steady, until I drowned in the quiet.
I was born already behind. No ribbon. No cheers. Just footsteps in mud that wasn’t mine. They handed me expectations, like medals I hadn’t earned.
I looked in the mirror and saw someone I didn’t know. The eyes were mine. But the fire was gone. The jawline, tight from biting words I couldn’t say.
I rehearsed a thousand times. In my head. In the dark. When no one was listening. The words they had shape, they had weight, but never wings.
I entered and the room shifted. Not because I was loud but because they never expected me to belong. My name was a pause in every roll call.
They told me to be strong before I knew what soft felt like. Told me to stop crying before they ever wiped a tear. Told me to walk alone before teaching me how to trust.
There were days I didn’t speak. Not a word. Not even to myself. Not because I had nothing to say but because no one was listening.
I carry a weight no one sees. Not in my hands. Not on my back. But deep inside. It presses. Crushes. Silent. I smile to hide it.
