I am created to see the beauty in you,
But sometimes I wonder if it's still true.
Your eyes, your nose, the color of your skin - everything about you is perfect.
However, your thoughts differ from what I reflect.

I am made to show you how extraordinary you are,
How your features set you apart.
You are who you are - there's nothing bizarre!
You're a masterpiece, a finely crafted work of art.

Sadly, I'm just here to portray - to be an aid,
Hanged on a wall and be displayed.
At the end of the day, I ask you this question:
Are you truly happy or is it all just deception?

I know
it may seem
like things aren't
ever going to be alright
but in the end,
time will prove
you wrong-
it always
does.

She came to a fork in the road
Not knowing where the path would lead.
The forest was daunting,
Twisted trees and black waterfalls
A chilling wind blew in the air
Carrying with it a cold fear
That perhaps if she entered,
She would never leave.
And yet,
As she stepped over the threshold
Into the dark,
Into her final breaths,
Into death itself,
She was calm.
For she could feel her soul
Pulling her towards the darkness
Telling her that there was nothing to fear
And on the other side of the eternal night,
There would be rainbows.
And so she stepped
Beyond the fork in the road,
Still vaguely unsure of what lay ahead,
And yet so certain
That when she met the end of the road,
It would be beautiful.
And so, down she skipped
Into twisted trees and black waterfalls
Pushed only by the chilling wind
She skipped
Down the road.

Optimism,
     hopelessness' necessary delusion, and
Positivity,
     a fierce front confronting unbearable reality;
Darkness' depths,
     a shield from light's searching searing heat, and
Rather a slave
     to one's own wits and strength, than to truth.

There's so much that I have to do
They say **** it up and push on through

Every day is just meaningless
All these pills they just tire me

But I’ll break these chains

Ooh, I won't tolerate

All these nights
I can't fall asleep

Give me back my personality

So set me free
Ooh, set me free

No more running
No more running from me

I’ll keep fighting
I’ll keep fighting
I’ll keep fighting until I’m finally free

It's true-
this may be a
sad chapter in my life
but I do believe you
are the happy
ending.

I walk through the park every day.
Sometimes I squeeze through the crowd and toss a coin into the fountain, longing vibrating through every molecule of my body.
I’ve done it maybe twenty times now. I wish for the same thing each time.
(I can’t say what it is, though— then it won’t come true. And I really need it to.)

Amid a cluster of intermingling people, I stand almost-alone;
Me and my coin and my one wish.

I wonder, sometimes, how much it matters.
If I’m just deluding myself and tossing  
pennies nickels dimes quarters
Into the water, emptying my wallet splash after splash in naive pursuit of something I know I will never have.

Small children join me in tossing nuggets of wishful thinking, their parents laughing at the naivete of it all.
I imagine a world where I don’t rely on a coin to shift my luck.

I wonder if I know somewhere beneath this self-deception that it doesn’t matter.
That no matter how many pennies I toss,
No matter how many stars I wish on,
No matter how many dandelions I blow into the wind, eyes squeezed tight with desperate desire,
Sometimes wishes just don’t come true.

But I know I’ll toss another coin in tomorrow. I don’t have to wonder about that.