The Reject

The Reject

by Mandy Doerr

I'm not wanted.
No one cares.
So I hide in the shadows
And seek comfort there.

Is it really comfort?
Can I even know
The difference between the release of pain
And the happiness I seek so?

They chastise me for not trying.
Then they tell me it won't work.
They tell me I must be perfect
To make up for the fact I'm a jerk.

"They'd like you if you weren't so smart."
"If you're so smart, why don't you do better?"
Contrasting words cross my ears,
But the message is the same to the letter.

I can't win this game.
I'm not sure I can ever break even.
Everyone else knows the rules
Which for me have no rhyme or reason.

I'm nothing but a burr
That sticks to their skin.
So they try to brush me away
And find a dark hole to leave me in.

If I stay in the hole,
Do you think they'd let me be?
Or will they not rest
Until the world is free of me?

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