Words - A Poem

I always knew I had them in me
The words
They would tumble through my mind
With a force, an insistence that I let them out.
And yet, I kept them hidden
Fear that they would mean nothing, ill chosen
Inarticulate
My fear kept me silent.
Until the fear became my inarticulation
And it was ‘speak’
Or be crushed by a life of ‘What If?’
And the words became my hope, my joy, my belief
The words now form peaceful rivers in my mind
Giving voice to joys long forgotten
And I am free