Why can’t we just be?
Why must we be something?
Why can’t I be enough as I am?
I try hard to get ahead in my words and my writing;
the world tries harder.
Still, I am but a child trying to do something.
Anything I achieve can account for nothing.
If I am not ahead,
I am behind
the people who want it more.
I want to succeed in this life.
To be something, to be seen.
But why can’t we just be?
Don’t we deserve praise for simply being alive?
Why can’t I be enough as I am?
Taught from a young age
to do something great.
And when you try to achieve it
people look the other way.
“Don’t ignore the difference I am trying to paint!”
In my words and my writing,
in my poems and mistakes.
That you must achieve heights
to receive love and to receive praise.
“That’s bullsh*t!” I tell you,
as you throw my words away.
Wouldn’t it be easier to just be?
Rather than having to actually succeed?
EMILY DICKINSON 