Stop!

Stop!

and learn how to breathe
in these halls where we share
our discontent with the way
we pretend to be.

Stop!

and look in the eyes of the girl
who hides the faults that make her truly beautiful
under thick layers of corporate perfection and lives
in the comfort of mainstream America.

Stop!

and hear the voice
of the boy who draws his live away
and mashes 'A' every night because
he just wants the screaming to

Stop!

and feel the fire in the ones
you call a nerd, who burn the midnight oil
just to pass every test because their future is all
they have, and they just want to get away.

Stop!

and see the geeks at the next table - the ones
with their faces pressed in a book while they obsess
over this show and that game and the other comic book hero -
and wonder why you never saw them before.

Stop!

and consider the lives
of the ones you ignore,
who stay silent in the shadows
because, no matter what,

it...

never...

stops...

__________________________

This poem can be found on my thepoetsanctuary.net account, Username: SongUnsung