The Hero

You are the hero.
You are the sun-shiny boy who has the world.
You are he whom everyone loves as he makes them laugh.
You are the boy, the heir, the one that will keep the name.
You are the one who makes you feel important enough to speak to you.
You are the one who holds all of the right answers and opinions.

I am innocent, gullible, easily taken in.
I am craving attention--someone to lift my eyes from the floor and show me worth.
I am the one who just wants to be loved, seen, acknowledged, desired.
I am abused and want to feel normal.
I am willing to overlook if you'll say the right words.
I am but a mere second in the cannon of your life.

You were my hero.
You saw me and offered me a place.
You were my shining candle when everything went dark.
You allowed me to stand on the podium with you as we sneered at everyone else.
You took our life, my life, and dismissed it as worthless.
You cut me apart and sprinkled every piece, every atom wherever.

I was lost, desperate, alone.
I sobbed. I drank. I reflected.
And what I found is that

I am the hero.

I picked up all of those pieces and welded them back.
I confronted your lies and rebuilt on truth.
I studied and analyzed decisions to learn from them.
I took risks and explored to find my new path.
I dreamed what my new life should be and
I built that new life.

You live like the hero, and say that
I am the villain but I finally realize that

I am the hero.
I've always been the hero.

December 22, 2019