By Nishita Bhandari
Teenage years are strange, so hard to bear,
Dreams fade, and reality strikes with despair.
From "I know it all" to "I'm lost and scared,"
Leaving childhood behind, feeling unprepared.
Awareness blooms, a curse in disguise,
Thoughts consume, as the world passes by.
You care what they think, and lose sight of you,
Caught in the web of what others do.
Friends fade away, and we pretend it’s fine,
The weight of emotions, harder to define.
Once strong, now fragile, I wonder, "Why?"
The past haunts me, the future’s a lie.
Love feels distant, an imagined dream,
I discard those who don't meet the scheme.
Self-awareness is my foe, my pain,
But I hold onto fate to ease the strain.
Believing life’s path is written, not mine,
The weight of free will feels too confined.
Yet I wait for fate to save me from me,
Irony, isn’t it? How life’s meant to be.
We all cope in ways that ease the fight,
Love, money, dreams, or seeking the light.
Our childhood lost, innocence gone,
We search for the past, but life moves on.
I'm scared not because I exist,
But because I have to, and I resist.
The pain of being human, so real,
Yet in it, we find strength to heal.
Emotions so deep, I want to hide,
But a friend’s touch makes it all collide.
A moment shared, and I feel whole,
In connection, I find peace for my soul.
Yes, life’s absurd, and the questions, they grow,
But maybe it’s okay not to know.
We question, we wonder, we fall, we rise
But through it all, we find the skies.
To those who live free, unburdened, and true,
I envy your ease, your point of view.
But I’ll take the journey, messy as it seems,
For growth comes in struggle, and hope in dreams.
So here’s to the mess, the pain, the fight,
For in this chaos, we find our light.