Words will never hurt you, but their ghosts will always be with you.

Ghosts aren’t real!

That’s what “They” say,

But “They” haven’t seen mine

I see them each day.

Ghosts visit each morning

When I open my eyes,

“No need to get up!”

Are their ghostly cries.

“There’s nothing for you,

There’s nothing to do,

Don’t look around,

Just sleep in the ground!”

After ignoring these taunts,

I haul my ass out of bed.

When I look in the mirror,

They float near my head.

“Why do you bother?

It matters not what you do,

You’re still the lowest

And ugly too.”

I glance at the note

That I pinned to the wall,

“You are a warrior

Wart’s and all!”

I remind myself

That, though I have ghosts,

It’s my good thoughts

I should listen to most.

I usually skip breakfast

Since food’s always a fight.

“It will make you fatter”

I hear with each bite.

I move on with my day

Mentally bracing

For the echoes of words

That forever are racing.

“You’ll never amount,

You are not valid,

You’ll always be last,”

Sing the Echoes’ ballad.

The ghosts were once people

Intertwined with my life,

Their voices and taunts

Made cuts like a knife.

My scars are not obvious

I’ve learned how to hide,

But the ghosts of their words

Are forever inside.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones,

but words will never break me.”

That saying is wrong because words will remain

Forever a persistent banshee.