Do You?

I could kiss the rain with the passion of a thousand lips,
I could dance away in the night with a stranger watching as my dress rips,
I could scream to the sun with the anger of a wronged child grown old,
I could sit complacently and watch as my life’s events unfold,

I could not observe a suicide on a dark night all alone,
I could not be a hand in the murder of a city of people through a telephone,
I could not fire the machine gun of literature to harm unless it was needed,
I could not ignore the injustices of the world and bypass wisdom unheeded,

I have spread the seed of hate throughout those who have communicated with me,
I have never talked with myself about following all the wrong rules to the T,
I did wrong unto others and walked silently away without remorse,
I regretted everyday since, riding a sinful, suffocating, shadowing, black horse,

I wish I could be a more giving member of society with an abundance of love,
I know I say these things and never proactively strive to go beyond and above,
I am lazy, egotistical, arrogant, a liar, a thief, apathetic,
I know this but I have positive qualities too, as do you, don’t forget it,

I need to work on who I am within, without, and the ways in which I impact,
I need to love myself first before anyone around me-this is fact,
Drop the cynicism,
The sarcasm,
Be real for once in my life,

I know the bad in me,
I know the good in me too,
Tell yourself right now,
Do you?

By Alice Crown, 16, Seoul American High School, South Korea