Standing, surrounded, but yet all alone

Words race through my ears but don't register

And, yet, this I would think I should have known

And though still my mind continues to stir 

My mind stuck around the tiny thought

That I am alone in this big, big, world

“Keep quiet so you fit in” I was taught

Those words in my mind settled then swirled.

Those discouraging words through my whole life

Broke me down and hurt my self-confidence

They cut through me, almost like a big knife

“No noise is the key to atropolis”

I remembered what my friends had all urged

And out of my shell, I slowly emerged