Pretend

Come now, girl, and tell me Why do you never cry? Why do you never feel in your heart What you show on the outside? You smile more often than you feel happy You laugh more often than not Why doesn’t anyone question your sanity? If only they could see what you really thought Why do you flash your teeth to please them? Why do your eyes crinkle when you’re placed on a shelf? Why do you live your life in boxes Hearing them more than you hear yourself? You see your life crumble before your eyes And yet no one can see your grief Why do you always drown yourself And allow everyone else to breathe? No one seems to look past your walls No one seems to search for the heart Why do none look hard enough To witness as you break apart? You perform for all people every day They stand and enjoy the show They watch, oblivious to the work that it takes What happens backstage, they don’t care to know They cannot feel how your knees buckle Or how your heart constricts in your chest They cannot see how the light in your eyes Has finally been put down to rest You truly are amazing, girl How do you manage to stay so strong? You stand with a smile that never falters No other could ever last this long They all see the world in vibrant color While you only see black and white Do you wonder what things look like in the day Instead of the constant darkness of night? No one notices while you fade away While you suffer, nobody cares Why is no one here to see The burden that this little girl bears? One day this pain and grief will end One day you will leave the lonely path Sometimes your existence has to be cut short In order for the world to feel your wrath Crumbling to dust on the inside While pretending to stand tall Congratulations, little girl You’ve done it, you’ve fooled them all