Not the prompt

Why do they ask “how are you?”

A patronising sentence they constantly say.

They ask to be polite, they were raised to ask this question but never raised to care.

“How are you?”

You don’t care about the shit (things) in my head.

You don’t even care why my eyes are always red.

It’s an instinct to ask,

“How are you?”

But not a care in the world about the tears that I shed.

“How are you?”

I’m fine.

I swear I am fine.

Just ignore all the pain and wishes to die.

I’m fine.

I’m fine.

I’m fine.

“How are you?”

Everything is awful and I just need to cry.

“Why?”

“Why?” You ask?

Do you really wanna know?

Are you sure you want to hear about the never ending cycle that i go?

“How are you”

They keep asking.

“How are you?”

They’ll say.

“How are you?”

“How are you?”

“Did you have a good day?”

Oh my day was great.

Only three breakdowns today!

And the medicine I take won’t make it go away.

Next time you ask

“How are you?”

“Are you okay?”

Just know that I’ll lie and say that I’m great.