I was inspired by characters
By those either too perfect or too flawed to actually exist
By those people who either were or were not
and either wanted or did not want to be
I was inspired by characters
I always have been
They taught me and I learned
They showed me and so I became
I made myself a promise
I saw the pain that could be mine
Etched on the faces of others
So I resolved to put myself first
Always
I made myself a promise
Thrill rushed through me
I was strong, I was brave
They told me that much
I made myself a promise
Marking the progress along the way, consumed with self pride
I sat and watched and thought
Assaulted by the contrasts between me and them
I made myself a promise
One that would secure happiness
And yet
No one else seemed to make a promise such as mine
My promise has been left alone

I remember the day when you said to me
the beauty of this world is under lock and key.
The ugliness and hatred is all you can see
and once a bird is caged, it'll never again be free.

But all your life you never did try
to spread your wings and learn to fly.
Nor did you look past the grief of war
to see all the peace we've been fighting for.

I remember writing a poem about an orange
though we all know nothing rhymes with orange
and after that I didn't write for a long time
since you said a poem's not a poem if it doesn't rhyme.

But all your life you never had a clue
of how to go above and beyond what's expected of you.
You weren't one of a kind, instead one of few
who settled for average and stuck to what you knew.

I remember sitting down for dinner with you
with my sushi rolls and pork moo-shu
and you said eating ethnic things
will not make me interesting.

But all your life you sat on floors
watching TV when you could be outdoors.
Eating pepperoni pizza and chicken wings,
never trying any new things.

I remember that time when you yelled at me
'cause I failed my first test on geometry.
Your face turned red as you grabbed hold of my head and said
"if you stopped your **** writing you might've passed math instead!"

But all your life you focused too much
on solving equations and numbers and such.
Your math mark went up but your english mark fell,
now you've forgotten how to solve for x and still can't even spell.

I remember when your words used to put me down
and I wore a bag over my head when it should have been a crown.
I thought I was nothing but I was wrong,
I guess I had just been listening to your lies for far too long.

See, all your life you felt insecure
because of the disappointment you felt when you looked in the mirror.
You spent too much time existing that you forgot how to live,
you've been drained of all happiness like flour in a sieve.

I have realized now that I need not feel bad
and no longer will I let your words make me sad.
You're the most ordinary person I ever knew,
and for that I pity you, I really do.