Another statistic

They tried to count me…

But they never counted on me.

⸻

They wrote my life in pencil, left the eraser near

Told me I was “at risk” before I hit a year

Charts, forms, numbers in a line

But I’m more than a checkbox next to “decline”

They measured my pain with a survey sheet

While I learned how to smile on trembling feet

Said “odds aren’t good,” like odds were fate

But I ain’t built to live by a percentage rate

Every label they stamped tried to stick to my skin

But I’m not the past they tried to pin me in

I’m not a file in a dusty drawer

I’m a voice they forgot to prepare for

⸻

I don’t wanna be another statistic

Another number they read off quick

Another “could’ve been” in a report that’s printed

I’m living proof I ain’t finished

I’m more than data, more than a line

More than a headline frozen in time

You can count your charts, I’ll count my breath

I’m not your percentage — I outlived death

⸻

They say “kids like you don’t usually rise”

I say “watch me rewrite your lies”

I carried storms in a paper bag

Still walked straight when my heart would drag

They only track when you fall apart

Nobody graphs a healing heart

They document the crash, not the climb

But survival is a victory every time

I seen friends turn into framed names

Candles and tears in digital flames

And I swore to the sky, fists tight, chin high

“I refuse to be a memory before I even try.”

⸻

I am not a warning sign

I am not a dotted line

I am breath, I am choice

I am more than your noise

⸻

I don’t wanna be another statistic

Another case closed quick and distant

I’m a heartbeat, loud and resistant

I’m living, breathing, persistent

You can’t sum me up in ink and math

I’m the survivor you didn’t graph

I’m the future you never predicted

I’m here — and I’m not your statistic.