After the wars I've started

and after the pain I've caused

I noticed a strange kind of swelling

in my tongue and so I paused.

I looked at all of the damage

that surrounded me and then

I saw the pain and hurt, so I

calmly tried counting to ten.

I saw all of the things that I hurt

in others as well as in me,

and wondered if all the pain I saw

would ever cease to be.

So I taught myself a trick

that I call 'biting my tongue,'

and I doused myself in silence,

my song never again to be sung.

So even when I bite my tongue

so hard that it starts to bleed

I know it's okay because

it doesn't hurt others, just me.