Please.
Please.
Please,
just this once⏤
let me be.

Let me stay in the only space
where I can still breathe.
Is it too much to ask?

A door left closed,
a place to break
where no one can see⏤
just the right to fall apart in peace.

"Who should be followed, the parents or the child?"

Please. Please.
You don't understand.

I know I have no rights.
I know I must listen.
I know I must obey.

But please,
please, just this once⏤
I want to be alone.

I promise I won't do it,
I just want to cry.

I've swallowed my voice for so long,
but I can no longer bear
the weight of my truth
twisted into yours.

You hear what you want,
never what I say,
and if I dare say it out loud,
you take it as an offense.

Children don't get to ask for respect.
Not here. Not in this house.

Respect is something I owe,
not something I receive⏤
something I give,
even as I break.

I press my nails into my palms
as they force me into silence.
Obedience, even in despair.

I bite my tongue
as the truth sinks in⏤

Even as an adult,
silence is still safer
than asking at all.