opinions of a man

{10.20.2021}

One day I'll see you on the street,

After everything has changed.

You'll ask me how I've been,

But call me only by my name.

Then I'll tell you that I'm fine,

That I've been doing good.

And while that's not the truth,

I would tell you if I could...

I'd tell you I stopped eating,

And that's why I look so thin.

I started to pick up smoking,

But it's just to numb everything.

I started focusing on school and work,

But it's just become so much

That I, have simply

Become out of touch...

With the world, with my friends,

The connections that I've made.

Because all I ever care about

Is grades and getting paid.

Because I think that determines my worth

And my place here in this world,

But they'll all just tell me I'm only worth something

When my hair is curled.

So I'll listen, I'll conform.

Because otherwise I'm sworn

To a life of being rejected,

Thrown out in a storm.

Because that's all there really is,

It's all we've ever known...

To become what they want us to be,

To never branch out on our own.

But I am learning,

I am learning.

That who I want to be,

Isn't just a copycat

of a celebrity.

I want to breathe, and just to live

By my own damn terms.

To drive down an empty road,

With the breeze in my curls.

Because then, I'll be happy.

Content with who I am,

Because my worth is not determined

By the opinions of a man.