One day I woke up,
and I wasn't six anymore.

I was thirteen and losing myself.

I was thirteen and crying on the bathroom floor, because my mother tried to **** herself.

I was thirteen and losing myself in whatever hobby I picked up to distract. Or drug diagnosed to fix my act.

I am thirteen and learning how cruel the world is.
A dictator in the "land of the free."
Children, my friends dying so young.
Dying because the world doesn't care.

I am thirteen and terrified for the future.
Worried I'll still live with my parents like a moocher, because our economy is in shambles.
Worried I might be attacked because of who I love.

I am thirteen and still learning,
Learning just how cruel the world is.

Is our world still great?
When children are obsessed with the sheen of the blade?
Hitting vapes like their life depends on it?
Or starving themselves because the toxic standards TIKTOk promotes?

No one cares to keep the coming ruin at bay.
Our children's future is already gone, since we are only worried about a trend posted today.

Me and all the other children who woke up to go to school one days future's have been stolen.
Stolen by the same people who promised to protect us.

Is this really what we wanted?
Our children's futures to be ruined, just because greedy dictators are at war with each other.

And no one will listen
Because we're just "dumb teens."