All those years when you want to shine like a star
Earning high grades, achievements, medals, recognition
So that everybody knows you are somebody.
Fast forward to your last years in high school,
When the most valuable lesson you never dreamed of learning
Was that life can hurt and friends will abandon you,
And the colors of your palate have turned a dull gray.
The last day of those years can’t come soon enough.
You’ll receive that diploma, not with the relief of success,
But with the relief of knowing you can finally close the
door for good
And leave those people behind and those papers in a box.
And when they look through the yearbook and come to your
photo,
Where you have none of the accomplishments even listed,
They might feel a pang of regret and sadness,
But most likely will just turn the page without even caring.
Because they are too caught up in boasting about their own successes
And their parents are too busy bragging about them
Competing with each other to make sure their child is the
brightest star
Careful to hide all their mistakes and faults and truths.
Having left invisible words next to your name and leaving
them nothing to reconsider
Will mean everything and anything, and they will be able to
interpret the blank message.
They will have been around the block and will have wished
they could change history.
When the future will be the present time, and they will see
and know your name.
They will call themselves your friends and think that they
are special
Because the colors of their palate by now will be dull and
faded,
And they’ll think knowing you will make them feel important,
And they will boast that they did, back when you were in
high school.
But that door you closed, the hinges will have long since
rusted.
There will be no way out and no way in.
And you will be the person they wished they could be,
And like they did to you in high school, you will give your
time for nobody.
06.13.18
© Kerri. L. Stanley
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