Survivor's Creed

 

Survivor’s Creed

 

For many years I’ve tried,

To hide what I felt inside.

Keeping the tradition,

From where I grew up.

My voices had no meaning,

Just murmuring words upon my lips.

 

Each new day,

Was just a chore to me.

The spirit in me,

Had died.

 

My tears became invisible,

Cause when I cried,

No one even knew.

 

My childhood,

Was rarely an existent,

Being a girl,

Came with a price.

 

I was brought up,

That silence was golden.

A woman’s place,

Was behind every man.

 

As years gone by,

I was bought by every price that came.

Money was my ticket to be known.

Drugs became my escape goat.

 

Surely, I knew I couldn’t go on.

I cried in silence,

Once again.

Trying to hide those

Very tears.

 

I knew in my heart,

That life, just couldn’t be this way.

I refused to falter.

 

 

Hoping to bring myself back from the dead,

I started on my journey.

To a place they call “Freedom”.

 

In the beginning,

It wasn’t so easy.

As I knock on many doors,

My knuckles starts to bleed.

 

My feet sore from the long journey that I’ve walked.

People remember me,

From the woman I use to be.

Still sneering behind their vicious grin,

Only pretending to be kind.

 

I may have been silent,

But stupidity didn’t come in my favor.

“Don’t be discouraged,”

I tell myself.

 

They are just challengers in your life,

You’ll just have to climb the walls higher,

And then you will see on the other side.

 

A dream is waiting for you.

So, I begin to walk on,

Trusting my faith,

That God has laid before me.

 

I close my eyes,

And I can see it now,

That I will be leading ahead,

A crowd of survivors,

Together, we will break down the walls

Of injustice.

 

Let our voices be heard!

Let our voices be heard!

 

We stand there with pride,

And tears of joy,

Cause now the chains that kept us in

Hostage,

The patriotic system, that kept us in underground.

We are Survivors,

Because we are proud to be,

Not by obligation,

But by gift of God.

 

So, here’s my message sent out to you,

Some of you may keep your silence,

But there are others that chose to be tomorrow’s “Hero”.

 

By: Chong N. Kim

3-21-03