I Shall Not Be Small (5 syllable meter)

When he was a boy,
Life was dramatic --
He learned to be small
Safe in the attic.

Invisible child,
As slight as his word,
Made to be silent,
A shadow unheard.

Talk was restricted,
Speaking forbidden --
He dared not a peep,
His thoughts kept hidden.

They shunned him away,
Both mother and he --
Alone was the son
They wished would unbe.

Bent but not broken,
He hid out of sight,
Nothing was granted
To fight the good fight.

He prayed that one day
He'd come to forsake
All they had broken
He'd fight to unbreak.

The lonely young boy
Grew fearless and brave,
The mirror foretold
The one he would save.

His fear became strength,
One voice to resound,
Ne'er to be silenced,
To this was he bound.

The child forgotten
Remembered his past
He would not be scant,
Nor neither outcast.

You see I am he
To whom I refer
The one forgotten
To whom I defer.

I was the no one
They could not confide
That needed a love
They would not provide

Made to feel worthless
I was that young lad,
Forgotten by mom,
Forsaken by dad.

I now know the truth
That I was not wrong.
Their words have no say
Their music no song.

I was not nothing
As made to recall,
For now I proclaim,
"I SHALL NOT BE SMALL."