I Hold Me

My childhood was rough,

I was bullied,

I wasn't that tough,

Tears I wept,

My bones rattled,

And my nerves trembled,

like delicate leaves,

Tumbling and hitting the ground;

But I stood tall,

Despite the crack of every hand,

And, the voices of evil minds,

Determined to pull me down,

I lost everything,

No man or woman would touch or

love me,

They saw me as a broken branch,

lying on the floor,

Waiting to be kicked some more,

For a while, I cowered,

Locked myself up in a deafening silence,

Nobody heard me scream,

Nobody heard me shout,

Nobody heard me cry,

I was the root they sawn a tree,

weak,

Lying on the floor,

Broken,

Because everybody kicked me,

I was the branch,

Whose bones broke with every snap,

Fading into nothingness,

Always seen as worthless;

Eventually,

I turned myself around,

My inspiration came from music,

My mental health king,

Ozzy Osbourne,

He battled a pain I could never know,

But still,

He kept growing,

Kept moving,

And;

Through his lessons, I was reborn,

I went back to writing,

Took up studying,

And I went back to singing;

I listened to his music every day,

I watched every video and analysed every song,

I saw his pain,

And I cried,

I envied him for his strength,

And I let his strength become mine,

I watched him shake,

I saw his tears,

I watched him walk,

I saw him limp,

But above all, I saw a man of strength who broke,

Yet still stood tall with a passion, the greatest strength

of all,

I had no friends or family,

But I learned my roots and branches could grow strong

If I let them guide me,

I stepped out with courage,

With bravery,

I still took the therapy,

Even when everyone left me;

I walked through the maze,

Letting those thorns tear at my skin,

And graze me,

I felt the burn,

Felt the pain,

But I let the soft leaves soothe me,

The hard, rugged bark was cold to begin with,

But every baby step led to courage,

And as my courage grew,

I learned more and more,

And as I learned,

I became tough,

Even though times were rough,

The maze of branches and thorns,

continued to darken and block my path,

But all I had to do was play a song by Ozzy,

And I knew that the path was still bathed in golden

sunlight for me,

That was the day I changed,

I awoke the fire inside me,

And it glowed brighter, stronger,

Than any I had ever known,

The singer and the writer in me,

Set me free,

As the sun blazed between the branches,

I learned,

I hold me,

I'm stronger than a tree.