I met him that day at summer camp.

He was tall, and he was inspiring, and he was beautiful.

But his father was taken away from him so suddenly,

And the pain burned a hole inside of him that seemed too big to patch up.

Then I met him again that day in December,

And he kept saying that he wanted to let out the pain. And soon he was,

But in the worst possible way.

And when that wasn’t enough, he started skipping school,

And getting bad grades, and swearing at teachers.

He was still tall, and he was still beautiful,

But he was no longer inspiring to me.

I haven’t met him again and he’s slowly slipping away.

And the hole is still there.

And he still doesn’t know how to let the pain out.

I just want to tell him that I still love him,

And not because he’s tall and not because he once inspired me,

But because underneath all of the scars,

He is still beautiful.