Stop making me feel bad
for things like having higher grades

Stop being jealous
on someone you don't know

Stop expecting things
what will come will come

Stop comparing
I am not you and you are not me

Your back that is shining
It is you that i am chasing
To become like you, i am dreaming

How can someone from the past
Live in the present and can easily surpass
The me who you walked past

They kept comparing me to you
Saying how much better you were
And you dont even have a clue
How much it hurts, because its true

The fact that it is you
Is what hurts the most
Because you are the person
that i have lost

They kept comparing me to you
Saying how great you were

I am hurt
I am angry
For i am you
And you are me
But how is it that you are always greater than me?

They kept bringing up the past
Competitions won
Awards gotten
Honors received
A bright future ahead

But guess what?
Your future is my present!
The bright future they said is the moment I am living now
But it isn't as bright as they've hoped
Because at me no one bothers to look
Because at the me who was you, they always looked back

But hey cant you see
That person is still me
Please don't just look back
And please look at the current me
Accept the real me

You were bright
You were me
But now this is how i came to be
So please just...

Huhh....

stop comparing yourself to other people. please? you are just fine, you're beautiful and i accept you. you've got to stop calling each other names and labeling each other based on the things that have been said to you. let the past lie. you're perforating your dreams. they'll die and you'll have nothing left to go after. i don't care how long it takes to assure you that your worth isn't ever going to be defined by what's been said to you. you animate the wildest sides of me. you should believe in you because i believe in you and you should too. stay you, but be happy and trust in the One who loves you every single day. even though you are in the condition that you are in. you'll be perfectly okay.

© Melissa Carlson 2015

It's not that I'm comparing you to him  

but when someone shows you their
world of magic & wonder  

it's hard to settle in a slum, with eyes of hope.

Don't tell me
what you learned in school
was useless

because
every day
you:

count
the number of likes
you got on your selfie
to figure out the value
of your beauty,

write
perfectly formed tweets
to exude creativity and wit
you wish you
actually possessed,

read
status updates
from former friends
who always seem
to be doing something
exciting,

become curious
about the lives
of people
you've never met,
and

question
why you waste
your time
comparing yourself
to carefully crafted personalities
that exist only
for Internet audiences
they would otherwise
be too afraid
to address.

Don't tell me
what you learned in school
was useless.

I miss you like I miss the dew
When it turns to brittle frost,
Like I miss a summer storm
When it dissipates into a calm.

I miss the feeling of the warm
In your arms securing me.

And I miss you as acutely
As I miss the dance of fire
When fall has come and gone
And the joy of Summer is lost.

just another poem
describing my low mood
with an irreverent metaphor
comparing my low mood to
the drastic change of temperature
in summer and winter