I am the enemy

When we don’t like who we are and we don’t know who to trust,

We form internal scars that lie in wait deep inside of us,

There they hide, but not for long because we’re just about to bust

Open at the seams, to kill another’s dreams

Opening up, it seems, is the scariest thing to me

So I’ll do it if I have to, but few and far between, and usually

It’s just to mock another me with their own insecurities

Because I’m too afraid to share vulnerably,

To stand up and scream, the dream that’s deep inside of me,

Uncomfortably covering, that I’m actually, really

Pretending. Sending the message that I’m confident but unfriendly,

Likeable, just don’t offend me

Or there will be no mending for you just ending.

Friend, do you get me?

And if we encounter each other on the street

This is the me you will see publicly

Because it’s too much risk to show you the boy underneath.

And this is the unending cycle that we continue to perpetuate:

Wounded people wounding people and teaching them that to hate

Is less risky than to love or to publicly appreciate

If you need someone to demonstrate just visit any school today

In any city, any state.

And this whole game has become ingrained,

When after once we’ve been mocked or had a joke told at our expense

We join the cruel flock and pass on the offense.

Who can resist the verbal onslaught?

To ignore and forgive instead of being taught

that we must join or die at the hands of the many—all victims-turned-aggressors.

It’s distressingly impressive—this machine we’ve created

Supposedly dividing the loved and the hated

But the truth is mainly left unstated:

The bullies and the bullied are BOTH filled with self-hatred.

Now obviously this needs to change but not just with the world

And this might sound strange but wait til it’s unfurled

This is not a problem in some other distant community

Whom we can accuse and say, “It’s their fault, you see!?”

The bullies AND the bullied are actually you and me.

It’s time we admit that we all have blood on our hands.

No more trying to dance our way around it.

If we want to leave the world better than we found it,

Let’s be honest, our conscience, is as dirty as the ground is!

And so you ask me, if I could change one thing what would it be?

I wouldn’t start with the world or another community,

(although, truth be told, they are just as guilty)

No, my change would begin with the bully inside of me.

I’d reveal what’s within, even my deepest insecurities.

And if I have to I’ll do this independently

But if you join in, between the both of us, maybe we can short-circuit this machine

So let us live this dream and let us see

Just how beautiful the world could be

If we ceased to be the enemy.

 

Comments

Additional Resources

Get AI Feedback on your poem

Interested in feedback on your poem? Try our AI Feedback tool.
 

 

If You Need Support

If you ever need help or support, we trust CrisisTextline.org for people dealing with depression. Text HOME to 741741