Poetry

I want to cry.

I want to cry

But I cannot.

Graduation

Graduation

They're leaving

It's finally happening and how will I survive

What if this what if that

Stress

Schoolwork

Why?

It's a question I ask

More and more.

How far

Am I willing to go for this?

As it gets harder

And harder.

Auditions.

I have to prove to other

People

Actual

Judges

One of the first songs

I learned to play

Was

"The Streets of Laredo".

I remember this

With all the other songs in that book

Too.

Now, it is

In my closet

Broken

The cover falling off

“Hey! Congrats, you finished! Would you like to see how far you’ve come?”

“Finished? What do you mean finished? It’s barely been a week, are you kidding me?”

You are not perfect, and that is okay.

Your best isn’t working yourself to a point where you have to sacrifice your mental health to succeed.

Someone cares about you.

-Can I tell you something?

(I have a secret deep within my bones, deep within my heart. I am dying to tell you.)

     -Yeah, anything.

-I love you.

I step out into a cool summer night 

The air fills my lungs and soothes my anxiety riddled body

I walk out and feel the calm breeze on my torn up skin, wrapping around me like it's comforting my wounds

Being a teenager in today's world is so hard. 

You have to deal with: stress of school, social interactions, people telling you what to do and what not to do. 

The day I lost my youth completely

the sweet scent of childhood

swept away by the sharp,

tangy,

sensation of adolescence.

I have chased after my hopes and dreams

As my parents would put it,

in a funk.

As my friends would put it,

depressed

or

tired.

How I put it,

aware of real life and frustrated and upset.

I hold a dandelion to my lips,

The skeletal puff of its existence -

And I blow on it gently

After thinking hard:

What should I wish for?

For my friends to never have to leave?

To stop being so behind

I want to love.

Do you know that?

Do you all know that?

I want to love.

I want to scream it to the universe.

I want to live

I want to laugh