The Soul Cries Silently

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This poem contains mental health themes.

The Soul Cries Silently

by Matthew Benjamin

Dear Society,

Do you hear the souls crying silently?
Do you hear the words echoing?
Do you hear the voices screaming?
Do you hear all the violence & sirens?
I don’t think so
‘Cause at this very moment
You reap what you sow
So you punish us down below
Spreading fear amongst the weak
Until the darkness blinds our very own eyes
So that we can’t see anymore
That’s when we are the most vulnerable
So you take advantage of the situation 
By taking away our own voices
So that we can’t have the freedom of speech anymore
But that’s not enough for you, so you take away our hearts and souls as well
By doing this, we are truly helpless in this cold world
By doing this, you lock us away in cages
So that we can slowly rot away, piece by piece
Until there is nothing left of us
No ashes
No dust
No heart and no soul
Do you really understand what you are doing?
The idea of taking everything away from a person is wrong
But deep down you just don’t care
‘Cause you’re the ones in command of this army of silent souls
Leading us to die in battle fighting for your rules, your rights and your standards
But this isn’t right, treating soldiers who don’t have a say, ‘cause we didn’t sign up for this war
That you created, ‘cause all you wanted to see is us suffer in agony from all this misery that you caused
When in reality that’s not how the world works 
But we don’t have any control over this world, because it isn’t ours
This mad world that you created, we have to follow every single order down to the nail
And if we don’t, we will be killed in an instant, 
It’s you that created all of this malice
It’s you that created all of this violence
It’s you that created all of this silence
All People want are answers for all your actions but instead, all you do is walk away like nothing really happened in the first place
All we ever wanted was to be treated normally 
All we ever wanted was our voices to be heard
All we ever wanted was our disabilities to matter
But you couldn’t face the backlash
So instead all you do is turn your backs against us
With a smile on your face, thinking everything is all set & done
Sitting on your throne
Brushing dirt off your shoulders
Treating us like nobodies
‘Cause in the end, you’re untouchable 
And we’re your puppets, easy to control & manipulate 
At least you thought so, but…
People have had enough with all of this chaos
People have had enough of being silent
People have had enough of not being heard
Face-to-face with this dilemma
We either could brawl with each other to the very end
Or we can put our differences aside and make amends
So that we band together, standing as one

….

….

Dear Reader,

You want to know why?
Why this is happening to you?
And only you?
You’re just trying to live a normal life 
But you can’t ‘cause at this very moment
You are being manipulated by those from above
You are playing by society’s own rules
Following every command because you have to.
If you don’t, you will be punished like the rest of them
So you stay quiet.
Acting like everything is fine
But nothing is fine about this situation
You feel like you’re all alone 
You feel this despair spreading all around you 
You feel trapped within these four walls
You feel like all your strings are getting pulled away
‘Cause you don’t have any control of your own life anymore
Because it got taken away by society
You try screaming for help, but you can’t
‘Cause you don’t have a voice anymore
You just don’t know what to do anymore
So you start digging away all the pain and misery
Until you hit rock bottom
Nowhere to go now, you’re trapped six feet below underground
The walls are starting to close in
You’re suffocating losing air and oxygen
You try to gasp one final breath of hope & reach up to the skies
Asking God why society has the right to do this?
But all you hear is silence…
The darkness and despair are once again rising
You are not sure what to do, but maybe give up
Because you are labeled as a nobody
Because you are told that you’re nothing
Because you are told that you don’t matter in this world anymore
But I understand and know what you’re going through
I’ve been going though it for over twenty years now
Getting constantly told over and over again that “I’m Different,” that “I’m Special,” and that “I’m unique”
That I have to carry my disability on the weight of my shoulders
That I don’t really matter
That my voice is different
That my personality is mislabeled 
‘Cause I know what it’s like to be alone in the dark
‘Cause I know what it’s like to not see my own reflection in the mirror
I know what it’s like to be outcasted by those around you
I know what death feels like 
I know what Heaven feels like
I know what Hell feels like
I know what it’s like to have my wings get taken away, so I fall like a angel
I know what it’s like to live in constant fear
To be constantly watched by those around you
Every step, every move, every word, and every breath you take 
To not be accepted by society
But society tells us over and over again to sit down and shut up!
That we should appreciate what we have
That we should be thankful, that we do get help
That the help we get isn’t given to us for free
That we have to work for it
But society doesn’t understand that the help we get 
It’s so small and little, it’s barely enough for us to survive on
We get scraps of metal, but we treat it like it’s a five course meal
Something that’s valuable and don’t want to lose
Because if we even make just one mistake, we either get punished and/or lose it all
And have to start all over again from very beginning
And that will take time that we don’t have
We don’t have time because society won’t let us have it
We have to pay for our very own lives
We have to pay for our very own freedom
We have to pay for our very own voices
We have to pay for our very own silence 
We have to pay for our very own society…
It’s hard to believe that we live in a society that doesn’t care one bit about anything
And that needs to change right now
And we’re the ones who need to do that
We’re the ones who need to take a stand
We’re the ones who need to echo our very own voices & disabilities 
We’re the ones who need to take control of our very own lives & freedom
We’re the ones who need to take control of our very own society

….

….

Dear Reader & Society,

So I just want to know why we constantly fight with each other? 
‘Cause it seems like we argue about the same thing, maybe different things at times, over and over again.
It seems like a revolving door spinning around in circles
Repeating those broken scratches 
Until the end of the day, where we might not even agree on one thing,
Maybe we agree on a couple things
But that isn’t the point,
The point is, this war of words isn’t working between us
This idea of accusing each other and pointing fingers isn’t right, ‘cause this will lead us nowhere
And instead of going back and forth with each other
We can come together as one, and not fight anymore
That we don’t have to take sides anymore
That we can stand together
That we can work together 
That if anyone is alone in the dark, all we have to do is shine a light and guide them through the darkness
Until they can see that there is hope
Until they can see that they can be treated normally
Until they can see the freedom (the light at the end of the tunnel)
That we have the right to stand up
That we have the right to voice our matter
That we have the right to be different, 
That we belong in this world
That we have the right to advocate for those who can’t
That there are others out there as well
All we need to do is not be silent anymore
All we need to do is use our voices
All we need to do is rise together, fist in hands and band together
Fighting for what we stand for
All we need to do is speak for those who have a disability and those who are disabled
Speak for those who need it the most
Speak for those who fought side-by-side with you
Speak for those fallen soldiers
Speak for those who love you the most
Speak for those who see you, as you
Speak for those love ones who have passed away
And speak for those silent souls