I can speak.

Listen to me.

There are thoughts in my head.

They make sense.

I am intelligent.

I am wise.

I have great things to say.

Just listen to me.

Listen not just to what I have to say,

But also to how I think.

Listen to my outlook on life.

It is worth something.

It is worth you listening

It is worth you taking the time.

Don't listen to me because I look nice

Because I look like a rainbow after a rainy day

Not because I look like I just walked off a TV set

Not because of your secret wishes to undress me.

Listen because of the warmth of what I say

Listen because in my frustration there is always humor

Listen because in my anger there is always amusement

Listen to me for my thoughts.

They make up who I am.

But if my voice is taken away, remember that my thoughts are not.

I am still that same person.

I still have that same warmth

I still have my sense of humor

I still feel amused.

Do not jeer at me because I am confined to gestures.

Do not look down on me because I do not have the gift of speech.

Am I nothing if I do not have my voice?

Do I only matter because of my voice?

Is that all I have that is of value?

You, you who point and jeer,

You who prod me with filthy fingers.

You know nothing of my wrath.

Am I only a body,

Not capable of feeling,

Not capable of hurt,

Simple because I cannot speak?

Simply because I cannot yell and scream

Because I cannot give retorts to foolish teasings?

Why am I suddenly of lesser value?

You who do not dare to even look at me when I am capable of speech,

What gives you the sudden courage

Knowing that I cannot return your unworthy tauntings?

Why am I degraded,

Why do you dismiss me as uneducated,

Why do you judge me to be weak,

Simply by my inability to speak?

I have a voice.

You may not hear it right now.

But it is there.

I have thoughts, and I can speak.

Perhaps not right now,

But I can speak.

I can say powerful things,

I can be even more hurtful than you are now

I can make you cry without even laying a finger on you

If only I had my voice.

But today,

It eludes me.

And you found me on my weakest of days.

And you broke me down.