7:56AM

We wake each day with a smile that shields the pain,
Hiding truth behind the masks we wear, again and again.
From those who think we owe them every why and how,
As we stumble through the silence, they still expect us to somehow

Narrate the chaos in our chests,
While we're just trying to catch our breath.
Fighting battles deep inside,
Barely staying afloat, but still we hide.

We chase their standards, play their game,
While life consumes us all the same.
At the end, it feels we’re falling short,
That we’re not enough in their report.

And so they grow cold, they misread our stance
Thinking we don’t care, we missed our chance.
But this lonely road we’ve come to know
Has oddly become our safest home.

Because this world asks for more than we can give:
To rise, to shine, to strive, to live.
To impact loved ones, to please the crowd,
To match demands that scream too loud.

Expectations that never match our own,
Realities we face when we’re alone.
Yet we bend and twist just to belong,
Hoping not to be labeled wrong.

Then comes silence
And the bond we held dissolves like mist,
Fading to an abstract nothingness that we can’t resist.

And here I am,
Like many more
Surrounded by yellow buses, concrete floors.
Marching like a ghost in this endless city stream,
Chasing 2k in a 7:56 dream.