A Mile In My Shoes Poem by Kayaeisha Shaw

How can you judge
without even knowing me?
You do not know what I have been through.
Have you walked in my shoes?
Did you feel every pain I felt?
I dare you to walk a mile in my shoes.
You would not last a day.
You cannot even imagine
the things I have seen and felt.
I have been in this world for 17 years.
13 of those years were filled with pain,
for 8 years my twin brother and I were split up.
16 of those years I did not live with my birth mother.
Walking a mile in my shoes may take a lifetime.
Bouncing from home to home,
fighting with every breath in my body to survive,
jumping from group homes to shelters,
juvie to juvie.
There is a reason why people think I am mean and are afraid of me.
That is cause I am mean and do not trust anybody.
No one knows who I really am.
I hide behind a façade.
I try not to let my past dictate my life,
but thinking about it motivates me to be something someday.
I will prove everyone wrong in the process.
I have always tried to run away from it.
It is time to take my running shoes off,
slow down and take control of my life.
I will become somebody someday
who will change the world or someone's life.