What I Hide

What I Hide 

Nobody knows

What I do to myself

The pain I feel

The pain I inflict

This damage to my health

They’ll never suspect

Or know

Or see

Or figure out

What’s hidden beneath my sleeve

So oblivious

It’s funny

I laugh in spite of myself

It seems just a game to me

It makes me smile to think

That they’ll never know

-         that they’ll never think -

Inside I’m hollow; a rotten apple

A dark storm brewing

Rumbling beneath the surface

They can’t feel the pain

That I feel

Nor experience the feelings

That I feel

So how could they know?

So innocent in their ways

I feel so different

I’ve got a burden

Hiding a dark secret

I feel raw

Exposed

Out of place.

And cold

So alone…