Sometimes it feels like no matter how hard I try, I’m just not enough — like I’m always falling short of who people need me to be. I see the disappointment in their eyes, hear it in their silence, and carry it like a weight that won’t let go. Being a letdown doesn’t come from not caring — it comes from caring too much and still watching everything crumble. I replay my mistakes over and over, wondering if I could’ve been better, if I could’ve fixed it, if I was ever really what they hoped for. And maybe the hardest part isn’t the failure itself — it’s knowing I might be the reason someone stopped believing.
You were anticipating shallow water
Instead you fell in the deep end
This water’s a shade of blue you haven’t seen before
You forgot that curiosity killed the cat
Explains why you would you go and do a thing like that
Unfortunately there’s a price to pay for waking her
When you had no intention of staying up late
You just delivered more rain to the flood gate
Cos what’s a little more chaos
It’s not your mess to clean up though
So don’t mention it this time
Be grateful for the silent goodbye
The story can’t be told the same as it was lived
And realistically what else can she do but forgive
A well rehearsed smile hiding shame
Once again only herself to blame
It’s all love, she says
Licking her wounds and counting the damage
Another day another mischief managed
Why Did You Bother to Come?
You don’t need me
You don’t feed me
And we’re not having fun
Why did you bother to come?
You’re not sharing
You’re not caring
And buy coffee for one
Why did you bother to come?
Did you think it was a holiday
Where you could play
All your little games with me?
Did you think my world so grey
And you will stay as long as everything
Is free?
I’m just coping
I’m still hoping
Your work here is done
Why did you bother to come?
You’re at my table
You watch my cable
It’s my friendship you shun
Why did you bother to come?
Why did you bother to come?
Why did you bother to come?
David Cox 12/09/23
When the magic spell is broken and the fog begins to lift.
And the heat of the day breaks through and clarity is no longer adrift.
The damp quickly dries and the light erases doubt.
No longer in the comforting mist things are so clear they shout.
It takes a while to exit that mist when its rose colored glasses you wear.
And its grief you experience because even so you still care.
So stop and smell the roses, feed the soul, sooth the heart.
A new day has dawned and with it a new start.
When the magic spell is broken. - Artimus (C) Susan Manley 11/3/2009
"The Let Down"
it’s never
what you think
it’s going to be like,
The Let Down.
rushes in
and hurts like hell.
after a while
the softness
in the heart
falls, while
you look lovingly
over the future
and the pain,
well, that pain,
is the sweetest
pain you ever
felt.
you feed
the love
it wants,
it holds on
for a while
until you're
empty there,
and the fullness
is found in
the spaces
you travel
to turn it
all around.
wings beat
against a nest
like a breast;
the windows
have to open
eventually,
the bird flies
out.
the small universes
bolt holed against
a storm,
the smaller
has to feel by its self;
force majeure
when mutiny
turns around
and the mirror
reflects
a repeating
noun
the mirror
reflects a repeating
noun
(LadyLabyrinth / 2022)
Sharp pain in my side! Big reaction!
For a stabber I'll show no compassion!
I search 'neath my clothes;
Oops! No crime, I suppose
When Sir Underwire is the assassin !
My biggest regret-
Was something that was happening yet.
As I faced off with unreality.
There was the truth of causality.
It was hard to recover.
As there was a reality to uncover.
That I had given up hope of independence.
And that now there is a larger fence.
Between me and the pain I should have willed myself to endure.
For at least a little longer, maybe I could overcome and be cured.
But instead I failed my final chance.
To face the odds, it was a dance.
I’m sorry to all the families.
That had stored hope in me.
For their own children.
But now we suffer in this hopeless cauldron.
Our hearts like hammers tripping
into silent sunbeams slipping,
we moved, my team and I,
into time’s immortal gripping.
mourning the quiet passing throngs,
wafting in the wordless void.
No inspiration given,
wrapped within precision’s ribbon,
leaving paper cuts so thin
to bleed our daily loss out loud.
homeward bound, so slowly,
with our heads reluctant bowed.
GET-DOWN LET-DOWN
He took rhino muzzle excrescence
For boost of his hoped for tumescence
But in spite of big dose
From a pachyderm‘s nose
It was useless with no acquiescence
29 June 2019
For Humorous Limerick Contest
Sponsor: Tania Kitchin
let you down
this i just
realized
it hit me
like a tone
of bricks
it was right
under my
nose the
entire time
i could not
see it before
i did not allow
myself to come
to terms with
my own role
within this estrangement
i field to realize before
just how much fault
i bare in the
implosion
of us
A fearless knight in shining armor
On his way back from battle
Outside a maiden's tower
Climbing her long golden hair
Because she is a prisoner in her own castle
Before I mean it to happen,
my helpful words
turn into a battle.
You and the world on your side,
me on the other.
Hey, aren’t we supposed to love each other?
Everything I say flies over your head.
It’s one ear out the other.
While tears drip down my cheeks.
Bitter tears because I know it’s my fault.
It is my fault for sticking my head into your business.
Not to mention embarrassing you all the time with my breakdowns.
I wish I could stop them from happening.
But I can’t.
I just can’t.
I’m always such a let down.
The after Christmas “let down” is upon us
All the hype is over, back to life's regular stuff
Let's keep it alive
Let happiness survive
We can do it no matter how difficult or tough
© Jack Ellison 2015
I counted on you when the chips were down,
as the insurance spins me round and round.
I looked to you as a guiding light,
I find my trust was not placed right.
What happened here? I'd like to know,
as you read to me what the report did show.
You can not back me this I fear.
You want no confrontation here.
Who will go to bat for me?
I guess I'll have to wait and see.
My heart it broke in a thousand pieces,
I thought that you were my adhesive.
I wonder how you sleep at night...
when by your patients you don't do right.
P.R. Deremer
Jesus said; “Let Down Your Net.”
Jesus told his disciples;
"let down your net."
They were amazed how many
fish they would get.
What happened?
They couldn't explain.
So many fish. were caught.
They were hard to contain.
Peter was astonished,
and fell on his knees.
Asking Jesus; "Forgive me
now... please!"
Peter, James and John...
Left everything behind.
Following Jesus was what
they had in mind.
Perhaps your "net" is empty.
Jesus says; "Let it down."
There's a great harvest for you.
Waiting to be found.
Be a fisher for Jesus.
A fisher of men.
So that others may be saved
from their sin.
"Come follow me." The master
is calling for you.
Each step you take toward him...
He'll take TWO!
By Jim Pemberton
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.