We carry the burden on our shoulders

The weight is unbearable

And we have not fully rested in a couple of years

 

The blackness shades our eyes like makeup

And we listen motionlessly to the words

Motionlessly, to the pedagogue

 

As she goes on

He goes on

The pitches run through one ear

And out the other

 

We listen to the dazzling music

And we do what we are told to do

With no dubiety or confusion

 

This building embodies Levittown

All the houses are the same as you drive by

We are conformed

 

Pages and pages of black calligraphy

Run down the monograph

We are nauseated

 

The expectation to do good

But to be the best

Is engraved on stone

And if you disobey

You shall perish

 

Our backpacks are equipped with journals

As we carry the immeasurable mass

We march like soldiers up and down the hills

 

Tramping in the early morning arctic

Running under the baking sun

We are exhausted

 

Home is not home

Tasks will always have to be fulfilled

And time for luxuries

Will be stolen from us

 

We cannot be good

No, we cannot be

Always, we must be the best

 

Hammers compress our heads

And the air we breathe in condenses

As we try to gasp for a dab

Of oxygen in our lungs

 

We are gorged with stress

We are in deprivation of rest

And we carry the burden on our shoulders