The Poet

They watch our pencils scribble filled pages
Our feet rub against the rugged floor as if we are walking down a path
A path
A path to nowhere
Nowhere but the letter on the graded paper that is supposed to rule who we are
Shows that apparently, we are flawless
A
Just a letter we are raised to think is the answer
But if that’s the case
Why are A’s so short term yet a symbol on a page filled with something we thought was real, so indefinite

A smile is plastered across our faces
They think that all we can see is a
5 out of 5
A 10 out of 10
And a 50 out of 50
And the only thing we ever fear is that 50 out of 50 turning into
45 out of 50
39
34
Failure
You are a Failure
Words we never really hear clearly but an echo that uneasily runs through our thoughts
Manipulated by unheard whispers
Echoing behind us

They think it’s easy for us
They think we don’t even have to try
But god,
They don’t know
That a b+ for us, is treated like an F in our isolated society

A
The letter from the alphabet
That is supposed to be the only answer
A

Because they think
That for us
Perpetually raised hands
Are all we can be
above unheard whispers
Unheard words
And unheard screams

Your eyes can’t lie
And when she smiles
You can see it in her eyes
Filled with frowns
A broken heart
A lost story
Carried through the wind
A shadow cast in the sky
A scar left behind
Buried beneath the cold earth
When stars can’t align
You’ll see it in her eyes
The twinkle gone
The cold air a little thicker
A little stiller
You can see right through her
Her soul is too empty
She needs a hand to hold
She thinks that she’s alone
Because we’re all too afraid to speak up
We sit there silently watching her drown
No one helps her out
We build walls of innocence around ourselves
And watch her world crumble through our glass windows
Because
We live in a world of bystanders
A world of quitters
And fakers
And rumour makers
Because We all live in constant fear of being pushed down
We watch her eyes frown and just sit there
Pretending that her smile is real

Hating without knowing
Loving without thinking
Feeling without saying

Our fingers will always be intertwined
And when you
Can’t Reach my hand
I’ll find yours
Because I’ve lived long enough
That,
I can see through the darkness
when you can’t

Her eyes are too puffy
And her face is too red
Suffocating
They see her
She looks lonely,
but Ok
They never will know how she ended
Because they just couldn’t look deep enough into her eyes and see that that missing puzzle piece,
Was them
All they needed to do
Was to hate a little lighter
Love a little deeper
Feel a little louder
But they stood there,
Silent
Watching
Pain
Watching a life crumble
Because there fingers weren’t interlaced
And their hearts weren’t there
Her only lullaby
Was
A champagne bubble laughter filling empty rooms
And silent screams never heard
Ice cream, and late night bike rides were just lost fairy tales
She couldn’t even imagine these things
What it was like,
To go home, and for them to be there
Just someone standing there, asking her “how was your day?”
Maybe if more people had hearts
More people could feel
She’d wouldn’t have let go

We walk on beauty
Breathlessly lost
Mistaking beautiful
For
Ugly
We lock up Effervescent hearts in
Rusty cages
And pretend our
fake
Is
Real
We find
Tranquility
In
Duplicitous people
All broken and dented

Why can’t we see the world through our hearts and let our souls breath
Why can’t we let the world be seen
Through the truth
Not a fake broken statue
Why can’t bandaids and duct tape fix us
Why can’t we live in a quintessential world
Where will we find our lost shadow beneath the hollow sun
Why can’t there be a light found

With big cities
No stars can shine
Because in artificial light
The truth can’t glow
In the midst
of the wind’s lullaby
Blowing over us

We shatter