Translation

"Be Positive!"

They say look for rainbows,
They say look for stars.
"Ignore the storm raging
Outside of the car.

"In here you're safe,
Safe from the dark.
There's always some good,
My words you must mark.

"Look for the good,
Wherever you are.
Life will be better,
Be better by far."

But I'm fine without good.
I know that I should
Not be drawn to the dark-

Storm

Power

Incredible,
Raw,
Power

I want to run out
To the midst of the storm
And be surrounded
By nothing but the raw truth
Of power.

Every raindrop soaked in
A tear turned to strength.

Every slice of lightning
A display of might.

Every crack of thunder
A true battle cry.

I want it all.

I want to be soaked with the power
And shiver with strength
And if I die-
I die having felt this.

But no.

I must look for rainbows.
I must look for stars.
Ignore the storm raging
Outside of the car.

Ignore the truth calling
Outside of the car.

Positivity is good, but it's oppressive. Often times it hides the words that need to be spoken and seals away the pictures that need to be seen. One night, I sat stone-still at my bedroom window watching a thunderstorm rage outside my room. The window was open and fresh spray dampened my clothing- I closed it reluctantly only when puddles began forming on my windowsill. Even then, I still watched the cracks of lightning as they split open the sky, felt the roll of thunder as it vibrated through the earth. I wanted to be out there. I needed to be out there, out in the cornfield across my house where it would be just me and the storm. Just me and the storm. But what would my parents think? They wouldn't even let me. So I shut the shades with a small ache in my heart and tried to go to bed.

Poems are often exaggerated for emphasis. This experience I just described?

All raw truth.

I can't explain that ache within me, only that I felt it. Only that I learned that there was a world behind the sugar-coating some people try to put on society, and that I wanted to see it for myself.