Trouble Poem by Charlotte Ballard

All the things
That once troubled
Me, as a child,
A spite, and on
To teenage-hood
Were the very
Things that twisted
Round, and taught
Me more important
Things than to flinch
When a “name” is flung.

Trust Myself, the
Deepest one, caught
Between the small
Fists throw fast
By a bully no more
Than ten.

Unique Is Better
Than Sameness
Taught by taunting
Rhymes that smothered
my self -worth.

Do or die,
Stand or disappear
Expand or shrivel -

Trusted by God
And me, that it
Would force
A greater gift
Than that
Of an
Untroubled
Childhood.