Angelica Williams

Grade: 10

Laurel School

Instructor: Kate Webb

Tender

Poetry

Tender

Being told to express your emotions is hard
In a world
Where how you feel gets judged.
You're not allowed to feel a certain way
Without the constant whispers and remarks
That you have no right to feel that way.

So instead we push our emotions to the side.
Letting them soar away
Somewhere into the dark abyss.

We get overjoyed
Then wind up not telling anyone what's bringing us so much joy
In case they react negatively.
We say we're okay
But really
We go home and cry silently
Hoping
That not a soul hears.

We say everything's going great
Although there's a heavy weight
Sitting on our shoulders
Teetering back and forth
Pushing us down
Further into the earth's crust.

We let our mood get affected by others actions
And
Say nothing about it
Just to fight our feelings silently.

We desecrate our emotions
We get into bad habits
Where we don't think we have anyone to talk to
And let ourselves think that it's okay
To allow someone else to control how we feel.

We create a facade
A portrait of a person
Pained with lies and secrets
A portrait
Of a person that we wish didn't have to exist.