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Sep 2021
We don’t come into this world smiling
we come in crying
We feel
We feel every emotion
Yet we are conditioned to believe
happiness is our natural state
and we are defective if we feel anything else
I tried not to feel
the knives of rejection dug too deep into my skin
So I carried my emotions on my back
like baggage that I would never unpack
trying desperately not to let others know
how heavy it was  
But my legs snapped
I couldn’t get off of the ground
and nobody noticed
Because you’re invisible when you’re sad
and feared when you’re angry
and judged when you’re scared
and crucified when you’re ill
But we can’t help it
we feel
though they expect us not to
They expect us to smile when we’re sad
They expect the snow to fall in the summer  
They expect us to breathe while we’re drowning
but we can’t do that
because we feel
So I shake hands with my feelings
and validate their existence
with a pat on the back
because no one else will
It’s okay to cry when you’re sad
It’s okay to shiver when you’re cold
and it’s okay to drown sometimes
You will swim up when you’re ready
It’s okay to feel
We must feel to heal

- We feel
Deanna Dellia
Written by
Deanna Dellia  24/F/New York, NY
(24/F/New York, NY)   
108
 
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