in the name of Resilience

Chain me to your labels all you want 
Enslave me to your expectations
Brand me with your limits 
Bind me to your preconceptions 
Shave away my individuality
And incarcerate my free will 
But you will never get to me
You will never get down to my very soul
You may break my bones, but you cannot break my marrow
You may break my heart, but you cannot break my blood
You can suck out all of my insides, drain it, grind it, evaporate it
But there will always be a stain
There will always be a remanent of me
A reminder that I was here 
That I was a pinprick in a flat world
That I stuck out, I made you feel
You can write me away 
Lock away my choices in an asylum 
But you will never be able to forget me
To forget the person behind the choice that you stole
Because even if you take my body
And cremate me into ashes that you spread across this land like butter
Until no one can find me
My soul will stay as an unshakable ghost in your society
That tense rattling hand that squeezes the air out of the atmosphere 
The murmur in every citizen ear saying that you were wrong
That you can't break anything more than my body 
Like taking my lips but not my voice 
The voice that will always keep howling 
I will remain. I will remain. 

-anna sluder

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