Words can hurt,

Especially those that are not intended to.

“Bullying” they call it

May not be so obvious as it seems.

Every day

Kids walk through the halls

Smiling on the outside,

Crying on the inside.

Words pour out of sneering mouths like acid

Eating up happiness as if it were metal.

Too many young souls sit alone in their rooms at night

Struggling to find the humor behind the phrases

That cut through them like knives.

Those last two words behind every insult

Do not erase what was said before.

I guess everyone is

“Just Kidding.”