A Poem About Growing Up

A child as loud, bright, and colorful

as they come, which somehow grew

to be shy, anxious, and muted.

Caution with every new person,

new event, new thing. Hesitant

to be heard, or to be seen, or to take up space.

To learn there is no sacred space,

and to have no right to be colorful.

To sit still, to be pretty, to hesitate.

A flower that is not allowed to grow.

But you’re not a flower, you’re a person.

Hands over your mouth, muting

yourself, silencing yourself. Muted

to your own pain. There is no space

to heal. But you heal other people.

When did you learn to be less colorful?

You allow others to change, expand, grow.

Hesitation.

Constantly, you hesitate.

Stop. Stop. Stop muting

yourself. It’s time to scream, to grow,

to expand, and to take up the space

often denied to you. Seize your inner color,

express your voice. Be the person

you’ve always wanted. The person

with confidence, who hesitates

only when deciding how to add the most color

to room or how to allow others to unmute.

Give yourself space like you’ve given others space

to heal, to listen, to speak, to grow.

Once, a child, but now grown.

A person with a child, a person

who loves, a person who takes up space.

There’s nothing wrong with hesitation,

but no longer are you muted

by fear, muting your colors.

A child took up space, a child grew.

The world is colorful and filled with colorful people,

And you who used to hesitate so much. That voice is now muted.