Don't let me scare you.
I'm an ant beside a tree,
And if you don't recognize
The look in my eyes,
It's because you're used
To seeing me happy.
All the words engraved
In pencil on my bedroom wall,
Glittering silver
In every corner of my room,
My mind's forgotten how to read,
How to understand the things
Known previously, effortlessly.
I've become the paint,
Flaking off the wall;
The paper plane
That didn't quite take off;
The dog chasing its own tail,
Too innocent to ever give it up.
I've become the initials in your locker,
Alien, but familiar with age;
The poem on the internet,
The rebel stupid sage.
But I'm also all the things that never change,
You know my face, my handwriting, my name,
And you know my lifeline
Better than yourself--
So don't let me scare you.