She lived to please 

The smile from her teachers 

When they said her work 

Was good made her heart 

Squeeze 

Because the work, the 

Smarts, was all she had 

She never really noticed  

When it started to get bad 

Pulling all nighters to get it 

Perfect because otherwise 

It wouldn't be worthy  

Enough to submit 

Then she joined sports and 

Said it was because she 

Wanted to stay fit 

She couldn't say the honest 

Truth; that she wanted the  

Body all those other girls 

Seem to have 

It was when she heard a  

Giggle at lunch that she realized 

She couldn't remember 

When she had last laughed 

There were bags under her 

Eyes and a black cloud  

Permanently situated over  

Her head 

But her grades were still  

Perfect, and that is all that 

Mattered, even if she 

Didn’t get to live 

A year later, she slowly  

Started to give in to the  

Tiredness her brain 

Expressed 

And she realized she  

Eventually became less 

Stressed 

The A's became B's and she 

Was okay with that 

Because the dark cloud  

Lifted, her smile became  

Wider, and she spent more  

Time on herself 

She started reading more 

And did more of the things 

She adored 

She ignored the teams 

Messages and finally 

Realized she had just 

Needed to restore 

The little girl who didn't 

Care so much 

And who was carefree and 

Happy and wasn't afraid of 

Failure 

How can I explain I no longer 

Feel the joy from  

Getting an A on a test? 

Because from a young age  

Society told me I should 

Always strive for the best 

And I tried so hard, 

Sometimes it felt like I was 

Drowning 

There would be an ache in 

My heart and my head 

Would always pound 

This summer I was 

Introduced to a whole new 

World 

One outside of a room with  

Four walls filled with desks 

And a Samsung tv 

I saw bright blue oceans, 

Colorful meadows, and 

Other sights I had never 

Seen on a screen 

I realized then, that I didn't 

Want this life where I would 

Be worked to death like a  

Machine 

I desired to live, and to 

Breathe the air-- not this 

Polluted air of the city I live 

In, but the one of a place far  

Away where no one would  

Know my name. 

I understand now that this 

World of capitalism only 

Blocks me from my full 

Potential and it is all just a  

Game 

To the top of the top, those 

Behind the scenes, the 

Faces we will never see 

I have to accept it, because 

Really there's nothing else I 

Can do, but oh, how I long to be free