Most people live with many voices in their heads.
And the loudest ones are what they really dread.

What they do not understand is that those voices are not theirs.
They are the ghosts of voices you let up the back stairs.

You see those voices belong to those you felt you should believe.
But now they only haunt your thoughts and make you grieve.

We finally grow up when we decide to leave those voices behind.
And recognize that while some believed … they were being kind.

The truth was that their words stuck in our craw.
Then they festered and on the good in us, began to gnaw.

It is scary to let those voices take their leave.
Even when we knew that we were being misperceived.

But as those words dissolved away.
Suddenly the negativity seemed to be kept at bay.

Notice those whose company you keep.
Walk away from those that constantly make you weep.

Life it too short to constantly be ducking stones.
And it is pointless to try to keep up with the Jones.

We cannot help others by carrying their pain.
Around our neck with their words on a chain.

When we break that chain and free ourselves from the old.
We discover that we are quite brave and very bold.

When you realize that you are the only life you can save.
That is when you know … that you are truly brave.

~Suzanne Wagner~