Sasha Brudlo

They told you to sit down
take the slap on the wrist.
It’s better if you learn so you can
get used to it.
But you were always gazing
out the window, wondering if
there was more than this.

They had their ideas of you,
put you on stage
’til you outgrew the circus
and ran away.
And maybe you have no one
to tell you that’s brave,
but that’s brave.

They said “Don’t be stupid,
come back home.
Wouldn’t you rather be a trophy
than all alone?”
It gets scarier the further
away that you roam
from everything you’ve known.

“You’re too tender, too soft,”
they say it like it’s a disgrace.
But you’re the only one
who ever really got this place.
So you distance yourself,
build a home in a cave.
They’ll tell stories about you,
but let them spit on your grave.

No wonder you’re exhausted.
You swear, you always have been.
You’ve wasted years remembering
all those fights you let them win.
But you can’t catch peace
if you’re too tired hating them.
So let go of what’s done,
but never apologize again.

You outgrew the circus,
and all the bullshit.
You know it’s time to say “goodbye”
when there’s no one to say it to.

And maybe you have no one
to tell you that’s brave
but that’s brave.