People dazing off in despair
You can feel tiredness in the air
You just want to go back to bed
So you put down your head
You just want to get some good sleep
Lying there in a disheveled heap.

Then it comes to the test
You don't know what's on it
But you'll do your best

You stayed up late last night
Trying to do all your homework right
Now you're just sitting in first hour
Wishing that you were in the shower.

You want to sleep but you want an A
Your sleepy self will have to conquer the day.
This whole process isn't a blast,
But these last few years of Hugh School are your last.

Growing up is hard to do that's why when I was 12 years old I said I would never do it because it is full of heartache and hatred, trouble and lies, what is the point of leading such an unfulfilled life? Now at only 17, I am being catapulted into a world full of life long choices, where one wrong move- one stupid mistake- can ruin my existence. Yet I have so much resistance because I cling to this notion that i will never grow old. Responsibility is for grownups I would shout then...and even now... but the difference is, today I am going to take 5 standardized tests in 2 weeks and visiting a big brick building that will feed my mind and prepare me for "life"... as if I am not already alive. What is "the real world"? Is it not what I have been going through since birth? Why does reality only hit when you're 18 and starving for attention? Silly me, I was under the impression that I am a human being, going through experiences and learning lessons that will fill my soul. but that’s not true after all; I will only be useful when I have a successful career and child at my hip. **** these rules of society. I am a human, a person, an adult. But not because I chose to be one, I was forced into this role that has deteriorated my mind and thrown me into raging fits of anxiety and depression. Yes, high school has been the greatest years of my life... if by "great" you mean emotionally damaging.

I don't know about you but
Trust falls don't work
I know in my gut
You're only catching me because you're forced too.

Out in the jungle of high school,
No one can be trusted.
At least in my eyes.
Everyone is two-faced
Or has a huge mouth that loves to gossip.

Every ******* time
I wind up broken
Because I actually thought people could change.

"Hell, I hate this life"
I hope my back didn't break your knife.

a fervor, a flame,
a burning curiosity.
i fed the embers
and they glowed gold for me.
warm,
weak,
extinguishable.

a fervor, a flame,
gone with the wind.
too young to grow,
too naïve to coax.
you fed the flames
but they did not glow gold for you.

yet,
you would not surrender.
a fire blazed within you,
never dimming.
i felt the heat
emanating from your core.
i kindled the fire.

a fervor, a flame,
scorching too hot.
a confused heart,
a muddled mind,
frightened,
unsure,
lost.

a fervor, a flame,
rising from the ashes.
beginning only as an ember,
but burned hot enough
to consume my whole heart.
i see the fire,
blazing,
seething,
scorching white-hot.
i walk fearlessly into the inferno,
right into your open arms.

i've never looked back.

One may wish to turn back the hands of time
And return to a place unscathed by change,
Only to find this petty whim a crime
For change is certain, and entirely strange.
It comes with no notice, hint, or advice;
Wreaking destruction throughout its wake.
Some can foreshadow change and it's device,
Like I, counting down until the great break.
Yet through all the warnings, I embrace it;
I await the day where my life will shift
And irrevocably bend and emit
A brilliant light on which I will drift
Into some uncharted territory
Where I anticipate to find destiny.

Cinder block walls
And cold tile floors
White ceiling tiles
And small windows on doors
The lights are too bright
And sometimes they flicker
The desks, they rock and sag
And are covered with doodles
Of both good and bad
But the irony of it all
Is that this is where we learn
Where our minds are supposed to grow
The place that is so defining
Is really just confining
They put us in this box
And contain us with white walls
They say that knowledge is to empower us
But the system just overpowers us
So they wonder why we want to escape
And question us when we fail
They blame it on us
Saying we just aren't smart enough
Saying that the system could never be flawed
And they are right in a way
Because the system isn't flawed
But instead it's the system itself that's the flaw
It compressed the minds that could cure cancer
It forces the next Picasso to color inside the lines
And the next great writer is told not to imagine
The great flaw is not in us and our minds
That's only a minor part
But instead the flaw is in the system that is controlling our young minds

I'm Hurt,
I'm Scared,
I'm Sad,
But most of all,
I'm Tired.

I'm Tired of not being good enough,
tired of doing everything wrong,
tired of listening to everyone fighting,
tired of being your puppet,
just tired.

And the funny thing is,
you don't even see it,
and you excuse?
your tired too.

But the meaning is very different,
while you catch up on hours of sleep,
I sink deeper into my own thoughts,
my own misery.

But if you knew,
what I was truly tired of,
you'd say its my own fault,
and tell me I'm fine.

Cafeteria
Slip
Trip
Crash
Click
All over the internet
*******

Do you ever come across that feeling of melancholy?
When you’re going too fast on that midnight trolley
Your head starts spinning in unfamiliar directions
While you’re left there, looking for defections

Do you ever feel like you aren't enough?
Everyone thinks it’s all a big bluff
But deep down inside you know it’s true
The whole world around you starts to turn blue

Do you ever feel that obligation?
When in school you want certification
Gaining the card that classifies you as
That one guy who is cooler than jazz

Do you ever feel pressured to fall?
Into a love in which you can’t call
A pointless relation clouds your mind
Pushing you farther from what you might find

Do you ever feel like you try too hard?
To fit into a jigsaw, but instead bombard
Looking for a clique that suits you best
Coming to feel like you’re better than the rest

Do you ever feel like you can’t be found?
Lost inside your own impound
Deceived by self-inflicting thought
You continue to feel even more distraught

Do you ever just want to run away?
Leave behind your past and go astray
Forget the life you lived at home
And elsewhere discover a new throne

Do you ever feel like life is a game?
A game in which you can’t come to claim
The honorable title as the winner
Settling down for the same old dinner

Do you ever wonder if you’re treated unfair?
You live thinking that you cannot bear
The dreadful thought of being singled out
Making you want to scream and shout

Do you ever feel like nobody understands?
Like you’re the only one stuck within the strands
Trapped inside an ignorant state of mind
Only to come all this way and find…
That you were wrong all along
It was all just a mixed up song
These steps you take throughout high school
Turn you into some kind of rotten fool

One day you will come to see
That it was all part of the journey
You’ll take it in and walk down your path
Knowing that the worst of the wrath—
Is over…

-David Rombouts-