Don’t you try to unsettle me
I can see through to the other side
Don’t try to demean and cancel me out
I will rise again like the Phoenix

Don’t you try to put me to disgrace
and line my face with cruelty
because I will duck and weave
the arrows of war

Don’t you try to invalidate me
because my colour will grow even more brilliant
Don’t you try to rip my voice out of my box
because my voice will scream louder

Don’t you try to eradicate me
because I will never be erased
Don’t try to destroy my spirit
because my spirit is made of the strongest fibre

Don’t try to exploit me
because my intelligence is emotional and intellectual
Don’t pressure me into the stultifcation of dutybound
because I am a free spirit and must fly with wings outstretched.

Don’t try to blacken my heart with pain
because it is and always will be red with passion
Don’t tell me to be selfless because
if there is no self there can be no other

Don’t tell me to remove my esteem with
no self respect there can be no bliss
Don’t tell me there is only one way to see and that is black and white
because I will show you a multitude of colours

Don’t try and disengage me from my inner voice
because my voice will never be silenced.
Don’t trap me into negative thinking patterns
because I will never be brainwashed

Don’t think that by removing love from me
that I will whither and die because
my heart can beat in
a raw dark place.

Don’t use guilt to haunt me into a limited life
because I have always sucked the marrow out of it.
Don’t tell me that my soul has no value
because my soul dances to its own beat

Don’t try to break me, annihilate me
because my CORE is diamond
and it sparkles and cannot be broken
and will cut through and shatter
all your glass houses into a trillion tiny pieces
and will shine on until my last breath.

By Anthea Slade 23 Nov 09