Dictionary Definitions

humans aren't defined in dictionaries

dictionaries don't work like phone books, they don’t list names.

                                                 they can’t tell you who hates autumn

                                                 or who loves the color red as much as you

                                                 or who has broken their leg 6 times

a dictionary can’t define who I am. I am not just one word.

                                                     I say thousands of words every day

                                                     and think millions of thoughts

people won't look through a dictionary and see my name

mostly because my name can’t be found in a dictionary   (if you want to define me in the pages of a dictionary you have to know me.)

If i were to be explained by a dictionary (a difficult task)

different people would think of different things

             my mother knows me differently than my best friends

             who know me differently from my teachers

             who know me differently than a stranger I smiled at on the street

      Some may define me with lions.

I love lions.

I think that lions are brave and heroic and they make me feel brave.

Despite being a human, I am a lion.

If you knew this about me, when the dictionary falls open to “lion” or “brave” you would see me in those dictionary pages.

                                              but I am not just these things.

I work hard and I help those around me and I can’t stand to see someone suffering

If someone around me cries I will cry for them and those that see me in this light will think of me differently than those who envision me as a lion

and that’s okay

dictionaries are not phone books

I am not just one word.

Many thoughts/ feelings/ people/ emotions have pushed me to grow into the person I am today

and I am not about to discredit them for the sake of a black and white dictionary definition