Please, World, It's All I Ask For

I
Wear a shield stronger than the thickest ice.
I
Breathe shallow so I don’t crack the frozen faces of other souls.
I
Hold myself so deep under water that I can’t breathe.
I
Try to echo the rhythm I hear around me, but
I
Don’t want to become deaf to the throb of my own heart.
I
Need reassurance that the world won’t collapse into one color.
I
Am scared that what I want won’t do me any good.
I
Am trying so hard to give the world what it wants, but
I
Think that what it craves will end up killing me.
I
Am terrified that this world will push me to
Die.
Please, don’t let me fall.
I
First want the chance to Live.