Her Words Froze Only Once

She smiled when they hissed in her face

She smiled when they tossed their lies her way

She smiled as they tossed her away again and again 

Just to drag her back with whimpered apologizes 

She smiled as they threw the world outside her grasp

Smiling and patting her little head as she ignored tears

She fought back grimaces and curses as they sneered at her

As they said how she was a silly little person

As they bragged that she had nothing beside them 

She smiled as her soul crumbled from the anger

She smiled as her mind spiraled with emptiness 

Yet she stayed with them because they were friends

She knew them from when she was a kid

She knew them as she grew up

But she never really knew them, did she?

She tried to ignore the harsh words

She tried to ignore how they made the decisions 

She tried to ignore how they hurt her again and again

And then one day she got tired

She was tired of this

She was tired of them

And as she spoke harsh and blunt

And her tongue hissed as she snarled

Her words froze only once when she saw their faces

They stared as though she had gone crazy 

Then those faces changed and they snarled

They huffed and threw the words back at her

And at that moment her words unfroze

And she shut her mouth and gave a false smile

They watched her and smiled back

They thought they had won once more

She shook her head softly, then she snorted

She laughed and threw her smile away 

She threw them away and turned from them

As they screamed and commanded and wailed

She turned away from them and walked away

She left them behind and felt a sense of relief

And she found new people that smiled without bite

She found people that listened curiously 

She found people that actually liked her

They liked her for who she was, not what she was built as

Those she left behind, they never saw her come their way again

And she smiled at those she now knew, and that smile was real

Because for the first time in a while, she was finally really her

Those people that took it out on her, dragged her down to be like them

They knew nothing about her, they never really cared

They cared for themselves, and they never quite learned

She wasn't theirs, she was no one's, she was herself 

She was who she was

And they had nothing to do with it

She looked back, but she never took that step

She continued forward, for she was done being hurt

Things had gotten better, and they had nothing to do with it

Things got better because she decided they could

And that's sometimes all it takes

That first step with the broken wobble

Contuined onwards until it's a steady stride

A stride that carries weight, but carries it anyway

Because that person was stronger than those fools

Those fools that thought they'd broken her

They never really knew her, did they?