Stop,
That’s all that runs through my mind,
Stop belittling me,
Stop lying to me,
Stop acting like I’m ignorant.

I’m trying,
Trying to understand,
Trying to listen,
Trying to help,
Trying to reason with myself,
Trying to believe I won’t fall pray to that monster known as doubt.

I fail,
Again and again, I fail,
I know in my heart something’s wrong,
I know in my bones something’s broken,
I know in the shreds of my soul that are left that I can’t fight anymore,
I let doubt in.

I doubt what I hear,
I doubt what I see, feel, and fear,
I doubt my dreams,
What made me... me.

All because I let doubt take hold,
Doubt that was placed there by others,
Others who projected onto me,
Others who let dreams come and go,
Others who lost themselves to doubt.

Because they were broken, scared, and sad,
They forced me to feel the same,
They accomplished their task,
That’s all I think as I lay there shattered, broken, and ripped apart.