For the Heart Catcher (2015)

13. Misfit

She never knew being different could make you feel so alone

But she didn't think she could help it even if she had known

They all say, "Be yourself, because there is no one better!"

But they knock her down every time she's different from the others

Wherever she is, there'll always be someone

Even when she became older, they're never quite gone

Their words seem to get to her, eating on her bones

Refusing to give her back the pride that she once used to own

And her friends, they seemed like friends

But all the while it was just pretend

They left her because she was too much of a misfit

They'd rather be with someone from whom they can benefit

Now she miserably sits alone in her room by herself

How funny it is that they all say, "Be yourself!"

When she was herself, the world screamed at her

So what is the point anyway? It didn't seem to matter

She left a goodbye note the night that she went

The next morning they found her, face down on the cement

Almost right after, they began their hypocritical lies

Saying how much they had loved her, "Oh such a shame she died!"

But don't forget, reader, that they had been the reason

A beautiful girl had to go, throw away the life she'd been given

All because she couldn't bear to spend another day

Living in this terrible world, and so she went away

Don't call her selfish for not bearing it out

She's been living too long in this merciless drought

She's probably better off now, anywhere but here

Rest in peace my darling; you have nothing more to fear

****

I wrote this when I was thinking about how pathetic it was that whenever someone dies, everyone seems to automatically love them. Why can't we love people while they live? While they're here, breathing and heart-beating and able to feel all the emotions that come with being human, rather than love them when they're burned into ashes or buried ten feet into the earth?