I knocked where lanterns softly burned,
Where names were sung and dreams returned.
But mine was mine too faint to hear?
Or was it swallowed by the year?

I wore my silence like a crown,
While others danced I watched, looked down.
Was there a rule I never learned?
A mark I missed, a page not turned?

I walked the path with open hands,
But found no prints in promised lands.
Did they not see the fire I kept
Or did they look, then just forget?

How loud must hope begin to scream
Before it’s worthy of their dream?
And if I gave my soul away,
Would they have let me in that day?

Still, I return to skies once blue,
To ask the stars what I must do.
Am I the storm they did not choose,
Or just the rose that bloomed too soon?