There was little respite,

In my younger days,

From the emotions

Battling through my thoughts.

School was filled with

Scoundrels and fakes,

Home is where my parents

Wait and pray I don’t stumble.

I would enter my home

After what had been a

Long day of social jostling

And overthinking.

It wasn’t long after taking

Off my shoes I would

Find my caretakers

Ready to tell me how

I’d failed.

Night was a time when

Expectations didn’t exist,

Where silence met my frayed

Brain and soothed it into submission.