I’m too young,
Too young, you say
To know
To understand.
My eyes
Are too innocent.
My mind
Too naïve.
I’m just too young
To know

But I’ve sat
In the clinic,
Holding my best friend’s hand
While she made the hardest decision
Of her young life,
Held her in my arms
As we both cried
For what had been lost.

I’ve spent night after night
With a friend,
Telling my mother we’re having a girl’s night.
When in actuality,
We were caring
For her infant son,
Attempting to balance
Education and motherhood

I have been to funerals,
Closed-coffin,
Because the wreck
Left their bodies too mangled
For the dead to ever appear peaceful.

I’ve seen war
Among the halls
Of my high school.
Feared for my safety,
Because of a struggle
For “terf”

I’ve unknowingly watched
My friends
Starve themselves to death,
Because they didn’t feel loved.
Or poison themselves,
Because they were hurting.

I’ve watched “perfect” people crumble
And the downtrodden rise to the top.

Yet, I’m too young,
Too young, you say.
To understand,
To cope.

- Property of Hannah Jo, 2008

1594 / 5000 words. 32% done!

Labels: cope, know, struggle, too, understand, world, young