Happiness.


I feel it. I know it’s there.

Yet, it feels like I should be sad. The smile I wear when someone tells a joke
should turn into a frown, showing something deeper.

Sometimes I can’t breathe. It feels like a heavy weight is pressing on my chest,
no matter how hard I push, it stays, stuck like glue.

Everyone around me says I’m pretty and always happy. I smile and say thanks,
but that smile often fades into something more somber.

I think about feeling sad, but how can I when my life seems so good?
The dark tunnel I often see feels like a trick of my imagination.

I try, I try, I try. I try to tell myself it’s all in my head.


If the people I love can’t see it, then maybe it’s not real. Yet,
I feel cold chains around my arms, my heart,
squeezing tightly, making it hard to breathe. I’m left feeling like a shadow
of who I thought I was, slowly fading away.