By: Linda M. Crate 

i‘m just the girl that can’t let go
holding onto things
long since rotted
trying to wish friendships back to life,
but once people forget
they don’t like to remember
or so it seems;
i always seem to love people more than
they can or will love me
don’t understand how i can mean
so little to those that
matter so much to me —
your eyes they often lied
telling me promises they didn’t mean
i‘ve always felt misunderstood
they say it’s
a teenager phase,
but it’s not eluded me yet
this pervasive sense
of awkwardness following after me into
adulthood;
i just can’t let go of all the injustices
done me,
why is it people can be so thoughtlessly,
needlessly cruel without
thinking of how it might affect others?
today i read a story in the news that made me
shudder with anger and disbelief
a girl knew that she had caused another girl
to commit suicide with her bullying,
but she didn’t care
reminded me of you
because you ruined my life and you knew it
still i sit here without an apology —
why do i keep loving and hoping and dreaming?
because i know someday i‘ll meet someone
opposite of you,
and he will draw the words out of me
so i can continue painting stars
willing to bask in the sunshine with not without me
sharing our accomplishments and dreams
together without fear of losing
one another,
because when i offer him all of me
he won’t jerk away like you did
for he would be lost without
me, and i without him
but together we’d shine the brightest sunlit pool.