She was told by several someones

Over the years

To toughen up.

(She was a terribly shy girl prone to tears)

But you see

What these people did not know;

She had been toughened up.

She had been beaten up.

Physically bruised,

Emotionally submerged in confusion.

Touched where she should not have been touched

She had almost been destroyed.

Bloody noses,

Pulled hair ,

Black and blue.

She had been toughened up

In ways that people could not see in the now

And somehow through all of this

Emerged an invisible strength.

Her tears were not always of sorrow,

They were of terror.

She is thankful to have had magic souls

And

Angels

Teach her how to turn

All of the turmoil of the past

Into

Joy and gratefullness.