The Gaze of Others

Not everyone understood me...

Their gazes were full of questions, and sometimes of judgment.

"Why always Black?"

"Don't you like colors?"

I only smiled, because the answer was not simple.

How could I explain to them that Black was not a choice, but a feeling?

Some thought I was sad,

and some believed I was seeking attention,

but the truth was far beyond that...

I was simply being myself

Their words were not the hardest part,

but their gazes...

Those gazes that tried to understand you, but failed, and so chose judgment instead of asking.

At times I felt as if I were under a microscope,

every detail in me was noticed, every choice interpreted in a way that did not resemble me.

But with time, I grew tired of trying to explain...

I grew tired of justifying something that was simply "me."

So I decided to keep silent,

not out of weakness, but for peace.

Silence was my own private world,

the place where no one forced me to be anything other than myself.

And there, far from all the voices,

I found a simple peace... yet it was real.