tacit [tas-it]
understood without being openly expressed; Implied by or inferred from actions or statements
Synonyms include: implicit, unexpressed, understood

Alicia Keys once appeared on Def Poetry Jams and recited the following piece she wrote:

P.O.W.

I'm a prisoner
Of words unsaid
Just lonely feelings
Locked away in my head
I trap myself further
Every time I stay quiet
I should start to speak
But I stop and stay silent
And now I've made
My own hard bed
Inside a prison of words unsaid

I am a P.O.W.
Not a prisoner of war
A prisoner of words
Like a soldier
I'm a fighter
Yet only a puppet
Mostly I only say
What you wanna hear
Could you take it if I came clear?
Or would you rather see me
Stoned on a drug of complacency and compromise
M.I.A.
I guess that's what I am
Scraping this cold earth
For a piece of myself
For peace in myself

It'd be easier if you put me in jail
If you locked me away
I'd have someone to blame
But these bars of steel are of my making
They surround my mind
And have me shaking
My hands are cuffed behind my back
I'm a prisoner of the worst kind, in fact
A prisoner of compromise
A prisoner of compassion
A prisoner of kindness
A prisoner of expectation
A prisoner of my youth
Run too fast to be old
I've forgotten what I was told
Ain't I a sight to behold?

A prisoner of age dying to be young
To my head is my hand with a gun
And it's cold and it's hard
Cause there's nowhere to run
When you've caged youself
By holding your tongue

I'm a prisoner
Of words unsaid
Just lonely feelings
Locked away in my head
It's like solitary confinement
Every time I stay quiet
I should start to speak
But I stop and stay silent
And now I've made
My own hard bed
Inside a prison of words unsaid.


I've always been taught that if you have nothing good to say, don't say it at all, and whenever you encounter something less than ideal in life, you should ask yourself what Jesus would’ve done before you act on the very instinct that could cause you regret later. Having to be aware of everything I do and say is a small price to pay for the grief I may inflict on someone who probably doesn’t deserve it. But just where do you draw the ever-so-fine line between propriety and self-preservation? When are you keeping silent to keep from hurting someone else? And when are you doing it to keep from hurting yourself?