If You Only Knew

Another old poem.

You people don't know how much I've been through. Your asumptions of what you think I am would make me laugh, if I could find the smile for it. Oh but I do smile; a perfectly plastered lie.

If you only knew...

I was a dumb kid with the worst luck. My mistakes hung onto my laugh with a weary echo. I stole some knowledge and became an adult. To become grown you have to lose everything; watch it all burn and fall like ash. Your family, your smile, your name.

If you only knew...

I wish I could share how I feel. This red-hot ember in my chest for a heart and no one's allowed to touch it, to help me. I break my bones in attempts to cover already buried lies. And yet you call me a coward, stupid, a damned fool.

If you only knew...

I bare the burden of every person to exhale their last words and every infant inhaling their first dose of reality. I'm not carrying the world on my shoulders, I'm carrying the sun. Everyday I burn for those who will never know.

If you only knew...