Late night poems

growing up

you know when you'd fall down when you were a kid and you'd run crying to mom or dad

knowing they'd pick you pick and hold you trying to calm you down

or when you'd do something so little yet you'd get so mush praise for it

like making a drawing or doing a chore

well now that i'm older

i think i understand why people give me the cold shoulder

if i fall and cry, i have to pick myself up

or if i do something so amazing, i have clean up the dust

i've learned that no matter what i do

and no matter how hard i try

my parents will never think it's enough

and sure they are nice people and i know they love me

but they know i can do better, be stronger, and never flee

don't weep and cry, don't sit and sigh

get up, keep going, no matter if it's a lie

they say i'm fine and i know i'm not fine, but this small voice always says i am

"keep going, shut up, don't cry, be the bigger person, be someone they want you to be" the voice says

but no matter how hard it is to ignore it

it's been tearing at me from the back of my mind, bit by bit

so when my parents ask me to do something, i do it

or when they think i can do better, i try harder, work faster, be smarter

i say to myself with a blink

i could be doing more, for them, for me, and for others who have it far worse than i could ever think