Can you really see her;
What she's feeling
What she's saying?
She's smiling,
so she must be happy - right?

Look deeper, I say.

I gazed into the emerald greens,
Entranced in the gem,
But I saw the inside,
And like an ocean,
Tears trickled down her face.

She was drowning.

a droplet of salty water falls
delicately upon my cheek.
my vision blurs
as the tear drops start to form a puddle -
an ocean.

i tried to prevent them
from ever creating a water so deep
but i could not
and i was drowning
in my own tears.

My hand trembles
at the sight I see before me.

My face damaged
from the expectations of society.

My body bruised and scarred
from every ounce of derision inflicted upon me.

Not only is it a corruption of appearance,
but a corruption of the soul.

My heart shattered into
thousands of pieces on the
cold, hard ground.
Shaking hands attempt to piece them together
but they are unable to,
unable to fix me -
I have to fix myself.

Fire running through my veins
like electricity
attempting to ignite
if even only a small spark