The Drowning Boy

He hides behind a smile, 

He walks the halls alone.

 Acts as a normal person would, 

Though he waits by the telephone. He hears no ring.

 Just the ringing in his ears

 Telling him that was as good as it was going to get 

He is stuck in the ocean of regret, 

His thoughts are drowning him. 

He feels he is but a burden. 

He tries to yell-for he has a voice,

 One deep inside. 

Though, no one is around to hear his cries.

With all his force, He tried

Tried to escape.

 Tried to take a breath. 

Tried to fight his thoughts that had been keeping him awake at night 

But if no one was there to see the boy-to help him, to worry about him- 

What was the point? 

He stopped resisting, 

Stopped trying, 

Stopped caring. 

And let himself drown. 

Some people walk through life’s puddles, 

While others drown in its oceans. 

So when your head isn’t underwater,

When you aren’t fighting for your life constantly, 

Why do you choose to do nothing about the people who are? 

They don’t even get a life-jacket in the ocean,

 Yet you walk through a puddle with rain boots. 

And these are the people who are noticed. 

The people who walked the halls alongside him yet made him feel alone, 

The people who chose to ignore him-to treat him as if he wasn’t welcome, 

The people who wouldn’t let him feel at home. 

Throughout the years- If only they smiled in his direction, 

If only they held the door every once in a while,

 If only they simply found out how he was doing

Maybe his thoughts would be but ancient history,

 Maybe he would feel useful instead of useless.

 Maybe he could see himself as a person and not as a burden. 

And maybe that ocean he spent his entire life try not to drown in

Would not even exist. 

The people around,

 Whether it be the classmates, 

The neighbors, 

The family,

 The so called friends

Do they choose to be blind? 

Or can they not separate the truth from the lies?

 Because it doesn't always mean you are okay when you say "I'm fine."