Poems About Life

thorns

I learned how to keep my mouth shut

I learned how to act in public, how to hide my tears and my laughter

I learned how to turn the other cheek and not get cut

I learned long ago how lies are painful, poisonous thorns

I stood up tall and made a choice to better my life

I signed away my life and my body and my soul to better my life

I survived being cut away from everyone I knew, a pain as sharp as a knife

I made the choices to stay out of trouble and be good, but to what end?

The Gardeners stand watch over us, They watch us grow and shape us how They want

They prune our good parts to get to the parts They want to show the world

They see us all as pretty roses, not as different flowers, They don't see our ghosts that haunt 

The bad, bug-ridden roses are planted next to the healthy one and They can't tell the difference because it's all in our roots

Can't They see I'm not a rose? Can't They see I don't have thorns? Can't They see I try my best, then find the drive to give more?

My friends laugh at me cleaning my petals and keeping my nose clean

My family can't see beyond my dark coat, they can't see me cry they only remember my roar

I'm too naive and delicate for those who surround me, and too dark and knotted to go back to who I was.

The roses around me haven't learned yet that thorns aren't things people want to touch

They laugh and lie and cheat and I'm rooted in place and can't change it.

They want to find themselves or lose themselves, always looking for a new crutch

every lie they tell breeds another thorn another drop of blood stolen from the Gardeners

They punish us all because of the rose-colored glasses They all wear. White, black, blue, green, yellow are all different shades of a rose.

They don't see some of us don't have thorns and cut us all down and the roses laugh and lose themselves

I am not a rose but I'm still treated like one, my petals are treated like a roses' until I strike a certain pose

What if I lost my petals and picked up the ones the roses cast aside? I wonder if then They would be happy with me