“I’M FINE.”

Collab with Roshini, Literary Co-Capt.✨

Another occasion, the question arose,
“How are you today?”
The girl’s fake smile, it never shows,
“I’m fine,” she says anyway.

With a smile and wave, her eyes meet,
Yet inside, there’s a weight, heavy and deep.
She hides it well, this burden she bears,
But inside, it’s crushing, too heavy to bear.

Saying “I’m fine” is a constant state of drowning
She tries to keep her mouth closed until that very last moment
If she opens her mouth and lets the water in,
She knows she won’t survive.

So she keeps it closed, hiding her agony,
Because for the longer she holds her breath,
Is the longer she will survive.
But alas, not one is aware,
She prolongs her agony with her mouth closed, in despair.

With closed lips, she hides her pain,
In silence, her struggles remain.
To keep the water from flooding in,
“Hey, I’m fine, really…” she whispers, beneath her skin.

“I’m fine,” she says,
It would have been the truth
If ‘fine’ was a word that described
The empty void within her.

If ‘fine’ was a word
encompassing the trickle of sorrow
that paralyzed her mind.
If it were to indicate she was hollow.

This mask she wears,
the smile she fakes
They will never know,
until she breaks.

She hid her wounds,
For they sought attention.
She pushed them away,
Though she knew,
It was not a solution.

Sometimes what she says is true,
But mostly, it’s just to conceal.
To dodge the talk, to escape the frown,
Because being sad, no one wants her around.

‘Fake it till you make it’, they said,
and she took it quite literally.
To the onlooking world,
she was high on ecstasy,
but that was far from the truth.

She looks for an escape
From the prison of her thoughts.
She seems sedate,
Sure,
If it were placid to be numb.

She searched for the light, at the end of the tunnel,
But the end only grew farther and farther.
“I’m fine,” she says, forcing a laugh,
Concealing the tears she failed to repress,
Living a life she’d have loved to replace.

“Hey, I’m fine, really…” she whispers beneath her skin.
It would have been the truth
If ‘fine’ was a word that described
The empty void within her.

If ‘fine’ was a word
encompassing the trickle of sorrow
that paralyzed her mind.
If it were to indicate she was hollow.

Also posted on allpoetry.com.
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Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of my imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental. || Contents of this poem should not be reproduced in any manner without permission.