I Wish Someone Had Told Me

I wish someone had told me how hard this life was going to get.

I wish someone had told me all the memories I should have been making,

Instead of spending hours agonizing over homework that would still be there the next day.

I wish someone had told me that they loved me without demanding something in return.

I wish someone had told me that the monsters under my bed would become my only friends.

I wish someone had told me that the Boogey Man was real.

 

I wish someone had told me I would be forced to endure this hatred and ridicule every day,

But they would simply call this school and expect me to keep going.

They say you can stand up for yourself but don’t you dare make a scene otherwise,

It’s all your fault.

I wish someone had told me that high school is exactly the same,

And exactly the opposite,

As it is in the movies.

I wish someone had told me that I need to love myself before I ever chose to love someone else.

I wish someone had told me how easy death is.

 

Wishes upon stars are simply that:

A hopeful breath given to dead light to change the entire world.

What is so romantic about wishes? About dreams? About stars?

I wish someone had told me.

“I wish I may, I wish I might,” what is this verse even saying?

We wish for now but we ask for later.

How can we expect that to change anything?

I wish someone had told me.

 

I wish someone had told me how precious a single smile was,

Before everything was gone.

I wish someone had told me how much cancer sucks.

I wish someone had told me that the color yellow is the worst color there is.

I wish someone had told me how much love hurts.

 

You’re not a number you’re a name,

But the first time you mess up they won’t use your name.

Teachers tell us that family comes first,

But they get mad when you visit grandma in the hospital because today could be her last day and you have to miss a class.

Why is high school education so important,

When all it does is teach us the Pythagorean Theorem and how to lose our friends?

I wish someone had told me.

 

I wish someone had told me how much words hurt.

They say it’s okay to cry but don’t do it here or there in fact,

Just don’t do it.

I wish someone had told me how much music heals.

 

I wish someone had told me that magic isn’t real and Cinderella was just a fairy tale.

I wish someone had told me that there are no happy endings in the real world.

They say we’re all princesses but when Prince Charming finally comes we learn he’s just a drunk and we wasted our time but hey that’s okay,

At least we can say we tried.

I wish someone had told me not to spend so much time on my looks,

Because I’m beautiful just the way I am.

But if everyone believed they were beautiful then so many businesses would go out of money and we have to keep the rich happy.

You’re perfect just the way you are but no one is perfect,

So what am I?

 

Please don’t ask me who I am because I don’t know and I don’t want to know.

I wish someone had told me why we tell our children to dream big,

But when they grow up we tell them to keep their feet on the ground,

Because a head in the clouds can’t provide food on the table.

I wish someone had told me why we keep the rich happy,

When the happiest people in the world can be found on the streets,

Because they know life isn’t about how many things we can fill a house with,

It’s about how many memories we can fill our hearts with.

Why is that not taught in schools?

I wish someone had told me.

 

We spend 1,460 days in high school,

Just to be rewarded with a piece of paper that says,

“Congratulations! You spent 4 years in free daycare!”

I wish someone had told me why we force college down every child’s throat even though not everyone needs to go.

 

I wish someone had told me why it’s so important to be popular in a world,

Where you will always be hated by someone.

Why do we define people by what they like to do?

But then call others stupid and dumb when we don’t agree?

I wish someone had told me why it’s okay for you to tell someone to kill themselves,

 But no one dare say that to your best friend.

Why don’t we stand up for that weird girl who sits alone at lunch?

I wish someone had told me why we spend more time telling girls what they can or cannot wear to prevent rape,

Instead of teaching everyone to just not rape.

Why do we worry about our children doing something they love but could get them bullied,

Instead of focusing on teaching them to not bully and to just love.

Love goes so much farther than hate,

But we don’t actually believe this we just tell it to people so they feel better.

I wish someone had told me why we have to worry how others view us,

When in the end the only opinion that really matters is God’s.

 

How can a person go their whole life never seeing God,

But then see Him as they’re dying?

Why do people believe they won’t be saved on their death bed?

I wish someone had told me that God will always love me even when I mess up,

Instead of waiting for me to figure that out on my own.

I wish someone had listened to me when I said I wasn’t okay,

Instead of just telling me that life would get better if I just gave it time.

Not everything will be okay,

And that’s okay.

 

God has a plan but if you ask a preacher about hardships and toils he will simply say, “God will bring you through it.”

Did God really plan for His children to be in so much pain?

I wish someone had told me.

 

People talk about God and forget about the Devil,

As if not talking about him will make him not existent.

I wish someone had told me the Devil is real before I laid in his bed.

 

The Devil is real people,

I’m telling you this now.

This poem is about: 
Me
My family
My community
My country
Our world

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