Title: The Moment I Could No Longer Pretend Poem by ashok jadhav

(The speaker stands alone, voice low and hesitant at first, building to a mixture of fear, defiance, and relief.)
Monologue:
I've lived half a life in shadows…
telling myself that if I ignored it, it would disappear.
That if I smiled, nodded, pretended…
then nothing had to change.
But the truth… the truth has a way of clawing its way into the light.
It does not wait politely.
It does not ask for permission.
It simply arrives,
and suddenly, every choice I ever made feels smaller,
every word I ever spoke hollow.
(Pauses, voice trembling.)
I need you to hear this, even if it changes everything.
Because silence is no longer an option.
I… I am not who you think I am.
I cannot be what you expected me to be.
I have hidden it, hidden myself,
to spare others… to spare me…
But hiding has only made the weight heavier.
(Voice rising with urgency.)
I am afraid. Afraid that this revelation will push you away,
that it will shatter the fragile life we've built.
But I have realized that nothing built on lies can endure.
If we are to continue—truly continue—
then this must be spoken.
(Softly, almost a whisper.)
I am telling you now
because I can no longer live in fragments,
because I will not leave the world pretending I am whole
when I am fractured by truths I have denied for too long.
(Pauses, exhales, voice steady but raw.)
Hear me. See me.
And know that this is not the end…
but the first moment I am finally free.
(The speaker stands in silence, letting the truth hang in the air, fragile but undeniable.)