FREED VERSE

shameful remnants of the hunch on my back

They told me to break the glass.
   "Fear not for the shards," they said,
    "you'll sweep them up all the same."
So, I closed my eyes and thrust my fist.
   My knuckles bled with pride.
My floor was clean, no shards in sight!
   They ran to me lifted me high.
They cheered for me through tears of joy
    not a stroke of the anguish I once made them know.

Yet my smile aches, my dimples groan;
   I pray they don't see through my blackout curtains
   and notice my so-called shatter was merely a scratch.