Excuse Me

Excuse me if I don’t speak.

I was the kid who never spoke

In class and hoped to make through

One week without being called a freak.

Excuse me if I don’t speak

I’m busy wondering if I

Should run and hide.

Or if it’s you

I should seek?

Excuse me if I don’t speak.

I mean no offense but

I’m always on defense

Lest you think me meek.

Excuse me if I don’t speak.

But I never learned

The finer points of making a friend.

Too busy lost in my world of pretend

Where I never got sick or picked on again.

Where I was always strong, and never weak.

Excuse me if I don’t speak.

But I never know what to say.

This silence a prison: the walls a million sentences

Left unspoken, and bars a devouring fear. Will I go

Unheard again, or will you hear me loud and clear?

Sorry I didn’t mean to be so bleak.

Over the years this fear has given way and

When I go out I can hang and shout with the best the best of them.

And though the shy kid I used be is no more I still find myself

Retreating to this haven, this welcomed quiet.

So excuse me if I don’t speak.

I’m just catching up with an old friend.