Today I carry a backpack

A required weight of course

For our thirteen year contracts

Declared drawn out remorse

While today is simply Monday

I have yet four days to kill

My “simple weight to carry”

Has so much room to grow still

A calculator and a binder

My lunchbox and pen

While innocent in appearance

They will pull me down again

Each item that I carry

Notes a different expectation

Each from a different person

Who only wants perfection.

Be smart, be musical

Be healthy, be hardworking

Be religious, be courageous

Be nice and be forgiving

Today I carry loves

My church, my friends, my fam’ly

My backpack wants to kick them out

But my heart pursues them quickly

So goes the life long battle

Between the heart and the mind

My mind won’t relinquish

My heart won’t fall behind

So it is in a life

There is only room for one

If perfection is expected

Not everything can be done

But despite this common truth

I won’t believe it for one minute

And I still attempt to conquer all

I don’t know the meaning of “forget it”

So instead I walk along

Carrying a weight that won’t diminish

Because while persevering seems unlikely

I still hope that I can finish.