Looking at this frail exterior,
you wonder why I haven't broken.
How this small, thin, girl
ever made it in the world.
My strength is not physical,
although I try to stay fit.
My strength is in a place
where no one seems to notice it.
I can sing a solo,
smile to an audience,
play a fortyfive minute recital.
Where is my strength?
Not in character, I'm no outgoing soul.
Not in body, I wouldn't hurt a flea.
But inside, where my heart and mind glow,
I know it's where no one can really
see it.
My faith is strong, my heart fills with joy.
My love is strong and I don't let
go of dear ones easily.
My thoughts are deep and strong,
sometimes so strong the everyday world fades
from view occasionally,
against the furious rainbow of
my imagination, which
daily dances in my head.
Although other's words can hurt me,
I'll never completely lose myself
in another's view of me.
I can't lose this independence that
separates me as unique in this big world.
Being special takes a strength that
not everyone knows about.
Being special hurts like a needle in
the heart, when you want to be
ordinary for awhile, to fit in.
Being special separates you,
delineates you just that little bit,
so that others look askance or adoring,
either way, you're not like everyone else.
Having many talents is a joy and a pain.
A joy in learning all the wonderful things I can do.
A pain trying to fit my talents into a job description,
a category for making money
that everyone must bow to.
How do I choose what to study, where to go?
So many choices, so many paths,
it takes strength to understand and decide.
To be strong where no one can see it,
to secretly smile when another sees a glimpse,
to know inside you have something uncommon,
that is the essence of my secret strength,
the strength at the center of my soul.

Lindsey Milton 1997

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