When You Were a Kid by Anonymous

When you were a kid
You were told a bandaid would fix all your problems.

When you fell off your bike
and skinned your knee,
what did your mom do?
She put a bandaid on
and told you everything would heal.
Forever and always.

But as you grew up,
you realized that bandaids can not, in fact,
heal all wounds.
Some wounds are too difficult
to recover from.

On your first day back to school after summer,
all of the girls make fun of you for just being yourself.
Wearing what you feel comfortable in,
doing what you feel comfortable doing,
saying what you feel comfortable saying
And when you do,
you get ridiculed
made fun off
kicked down
physically and mentally.

Even if they don’t cause the
physical pain
that doesn’t mean it isn’t there
in some way.

If you tell somebody,
You are weak—
A baby
A terrifying tale
Disgusting

You go home and cry yourself to sleep.
You start to remember and cherish the old times
wishing you could just go back.

Wishing, and hoping
That you could go back on the bicycle,
and live in that moment for the rest of your life.
With no worries,
except for the one scratch.

When you were a kid.