A Piece of the Puzzle

Unwrapping during Christmas, snipping tape Excitement as one saw another’s shape On the table we gathered, one plus one Then two plus two and so on until done For some it came easy, they had many friends For some, not so much, but they fit in in the end They grouped together and groups became obese But I was small and an oddly tessellating shaped piece No attachment, I feel so out of place Is it my characteristics? The look of my face? The size of my shape? The color of my skin? Might as well give up, I’ll never win No interlocking in the corner or anywhere in the middle Still off to the side, feeling the person inside me grow little Trying to be seen, I feel so spent Like a Catholic who is giving up hope for lent Would I still be seen under a magnifying glass Like an ant climbing on a blade of grass? But if I was, what would happen I inquire One day would the glass shift and I be set on fire? The more I pushed in the more I was pushed away The sun in me now tucked under the skies of grey The Sole that has just squashed an ant is now on my chest But even wounded and dead ants are carried back to the nest A part of a whole, but not at all. Apart! I can feel my chest caving in on my heart! Stronger than ever the group is on the prowl Hissing at me, some even growl I am nothing to them. I am nothing to them Could have grown into a flower, but am just a stem Like a broken puzzle, so is my heart and mind I take a step forward but told to stay behind I watch them walk. Racing fear, daunting on Can’t hear them talk. Disappear; they are gone Left with nothing but thoughts in my head Lonely, beaten, wounded; left for dead.