There was a girl who loved to read
She would read the faces of other people
Those tiny, hidden, subtle expressions
That were passive but she was capable

She could read the voices of others
Those who aged within the pages
Who stayed immortal in written words
Immune to the outside life changes

She would read atmospheres and moods
In order to know what to portray
She became a character who was dependent
On what the readers wanted her to play

She treated each new encounter
Like a newly rewritten page
Good ones filled with laughter
Bad ones became a cage

Stuck between the same pages
Trapped under the same words
Desperately wanting to flip to the next
A new page or at least the next verse

She was imprisoned inside a book
That gathered dust and was rarely opened
Trapped inside a story that wasn't hers
Only made her feel more broken

She was irrelevant, a side character
In a world that was not written for her
She was only a minor character
Who would not be cared for if she died first

She was a reader, not a storyteller
Her mind consumed people's stories
Lost and confused on an unwritten path
Consumed more of her prematurely

New character roles and labels
Became etched into her skin
All of what was expected of her
To survive the story she was in

With every word written on her
Strayed further from who she was
Every dialogue from which she spoke
Only strengthened her facade

But everyone is a storyteller
Anyone who has a life
She ventured off from the narrative
And created her own story line

She twisted the story's plot
To carve in a new script
To tell the story that is her
In memory of a misfit

The world was made to break you
But you don't have to agree
Do not side with those against your truth
It is not you against me

It is us against the world
The two of us to defy the odds
For many years, I was alone
I alone, to pay the cost

Prove to me that love is real
I hold scars only you can sooth
My greatest pain comes from inside
Now I know what to ask from you

Sing me compliments and affirmations
To replace the screams of hatred
Hold me tight yet oh so gently
The gesture has been long belated

Stand with me with our heads held high
For you and I will rewrite the world
Finally standing on the same page
Restarting the memoir of this girl

When I hear every new heartbreak
I trust love a little less
In attempts to save myself
From all the emotional stress

But love without passion
Is not love at its best
Though I am scared to love at all
Only to be broken like the rest

From what my eyes have seen
True love has to be intense
Full of tears and excruciating pain
Crying over something so complex

After every unrequited heartbreak
My mind still fails to address
Why after every heartache
My heart bleeds in protest

Because after every love
There is more that I suppress
In order to protect myself
Based on an unfortunate guess

What a tiny nuisance is she
She, who is confined inside my cage
Her mischievous whispers echo
While she clutches my heart again

She plays upon my lungs
Pressing all of the black keys
Passionately like a pianist
Making it difficult to breathe

She giggles oh so playfully
As I wince from my chest pain
She mocks me with excitement
As though we are playing a game

How imaginative and innovative
Constantly spewing out new stories
Creating story plots out of broken pieces
She is the writer of my worries

Most people would want to travel
To the ends of other worlds
But for me, I am merely fascinated
Of the universe inside this girl

The girl in the looking glass
She, who shares the same face
Such a multifaceted being
A rarity one cannot replace

For so long I have observed her
Yet, she surpasses my expertise
Facts about her turn into fables
She is an ever-changing entity

Observations become opinions
And conclusions are commentary
Assumptions are only illusions
For those who try to define me

Is it okay to be for me to be selfish?
I have finally obtained all of my pieces
Before, I would just give them away
To whoever, even if it wasn't needed

So forgive me when you ask
Why I don't let my heart be vacant
Let me attain some inner peace
And solitude while I'm still present

For so long, I was someone else's
Before I chose to become my own
You may see it as possessive
To want to keep my heart alone

A mate to my soul is true happiness, they say
You would say they would be my better half
I want to be complete by myself for now
Self love is what I want to attract

Maybe someday I will find them
When I am fully grown and complete
But I wouldn't mind if I found my true love
In the deepest part of me

They call you the girl made out of glass
A princess, so fragile and naive
Who cannot hold an ounce of darkness
Always the one who is deceived

You are breakable, but not weak
You are stronger than they believe
Shards of glass cut through so easily
Piercing each of their misdeeds

Every part of you is just as deadly
With every shard, you are complete
How do you hold such an honest heart
No need for illusions to achieve

Your rise to a better reign
You will become a fiercer queen
To start a revolution
In ways the world needs

A girl born from the embers
And raised within hell's heat
Derived from the ashes
Of every ancestor deceased

As you are made of glass
When you break, you do not bleed
Shaped by mental wielders
One, who was forged to lead