If I write a thousand words

Will they come right out of me

If I read into the night

Will I rest with dignity

If other souls embrace the work

Will my heart be pleased

If they are read right out loud

Will my voice be freed

Do I need to make a point

To verse creatively

Do I need to tell a tale

So that hearing hearts will see

Do I need to journey far

To light upon woe

Do I need to touch the stars

If I must let it go

Must I then embrace the hope

For success beyond my dreams

Must I really prove my worth

To live potentially

Must I live a different life

To find a happy song

Must I be as others are

To feel that I belong

Do I need to put on a good show

So that others will let me in

Do I need a special finesse

To be accepted as one of them

Do I need to train my voice

To laugh with the throng

Do I need to stand straight and trim

To reveal that I am strong

If I wrote a thousand words

Could I call them mine

If I did not engage many works

Would I be considered sublime

Then in truthful slumber

Would my heart be real

With no contemplation 

I'd be a stifled soul

Voiceless and surreal

Ruth is a participant in Megaphone's community writing workshop.