The hours run into days

The days drone into years.

When will I finish this endless race?

"You are going to succeed and do great"

"We all have such high expectations"

My family brims with pride.

Pressure increases and I am being eaten up from the inside.

I am drowning, slipping, twisting

In an endless ocean of stress.

When will they see that their praises are killing me?

To be or not to be

The perfect daughter

Or the free spirited wanderer.

The eloquent young lady

Or the sailor mouthed adolescent.

To disappoint or to succumb

To a role I have been unfairly assigned.

When will they understand that this isn't me?

I am more than intelligent words and straight A's.

I am a hurricane, a whirlwind of imperfections.

"Keep enduring, dont dawdle"

"Just focus on school and you will be rich"

But what about the richness of life?

To stay or to leave 

The world I have grown so accustomed to.

Monotone idiosyncrasies of this life.

Stuck in a rhythm, I want to break free

I can't deal with the expectations looming over me.

So to be or not to be?

A question that was never posed to me.

I can no longer choose to be or not to be

Because for the rest of my life

I will be what is to be,

Which I have realized is not me.