Hidden Goodbyes Underneath The Starry Black Sky

When they gaze at you, will you look back or shy away from the world?

Melt the facade away, hold your head high or succumb to blank stares and false accusations?

Can it not get any more clichéd?

Life is such, they say. What can they know?

Have they lived more or simply been alive for longer?

Trouble dawns bright on every soul - be it young or old, fickle or brave.

I have my silly misfortunes - we all do. But does experience make me wiser?

I think not. Instead, it leaves me crying in the shadows of vulnerability.

Getting through it all, we learn the all but shallow art of pretense.

I am afraid they will try to strangle me again - suffocate my mind.

So, in the moment, until I can find my escape, I will put on a smile, please them, laugh along, and learn to pretend.

I'm too afraid to even try to be different.

A coward, I may be - but one that will survive when all around the brave fall.