You Dont Know Me

by Lizbeth Rivas
(Junction City, Oregon, United States)

You say you know me,
but you don’t.
You have no idea
how hard life can be for me.
You see me smiling
and laughing through each day,
but you don’t see the tears
running down my cheeks
as if it were raining.
Nor can you see the cracks
in my heart, dripping blood
like someone who
has just been stabbed.
People look at me but
don’t see anything,
it’s like I were invisible
or didn’t exist.
I stare and stare
waiting for someone to
recognize my feelings, but
they all seem to turn away.