Bottle Caps

You go to school

Every day

Your face sleazy and exhausted

From a night full of working and suffering

You find your locker staying out of the way

Of the people chatting around you

When you get to your friends

They stare blankly

Waiting for you to smile and speak

You do as their eyes command you

Smile

Laugh

Talk

Your day goes on as normal

Going to lunch

Hanging out at recess

Staring at walls

As classes drags on

The last bell rings

You pack up quick and start heading

Home

Relaxing for a while

TV and dinner calm your

Stressed nerves

You begin your homework

Losing

Awareness and

Concentration

Problem by problem

Your homework's finally done

There's nothing left to do

But sit in bed and think

As you realize how lonely you really are

Tears run down your face rapidly

Your return to school with your smile

Inside your dying

Crying

But outside you have no choice but to smile

Your feelings capped inside

The bottle trapped within you

That bottle cap you can't remove

Emotions stuck in place

Forcing you to feel

By lunch your feelings so

Compact

And pushed down

Begin to burst

You feel yourself

Cracking at the seems

The last bell rings

Emotions explode from deep inside you

Your face darkened and grey

Screaming

Shouting

At the people you love

Praying for them to hear you

If only they could

Hear the crying voice

Within your smile

~L

~April 22, 2014

~Inspired by "What Work Is" by Philip Levine