The lies he lives

By Chelsea RJ

In a world where showing sadness is seen as a weakness, we are often forced to conceal it. We hide the pain behind the smiles, but what happens when somebody watches us do so.

I know this guy, 
Who makes Angels sing.

He shines so brightly,
That he almost looks like a king.

His laugh, which lights up the sky, 
Makes you deny what’s really inside.

While I can’t help but admire, 
This guy is nothing but a liar.

He wears a mask to hide what’s inside,
For he is lost within his foolish pride.
 
He smiles when he is sad.
He laughs when he lies, 
And he sings when he is slowly dying inside. 

I know this guy 
Who makes Angels cry. 

His sadness is at its all-time high.

He sits on his throne, all alone
with subjects and treasures,
but a hollowness in his bones

He needs help but does not want it. 
For his pride, doesn't let him admit
That he doesn't have to conceal what he truly feels.
 
I know this guy 
Who makes Angels sing,

His shine is slowly fading.

While I love him, this guy is a fraud.
Oh, I wish he knew it was okay to let his crown fall. 

Process

When I first started writing my poem, I wanted to do something that a lot of people could relate to, which is pretending. We have all pretended to be okay at least once in our lives, and I wanted to show that. In the beginning, I was thinking about writing the poem from the point of view of the pretender. However, I realized that it would be better if the poem was written from the point of view of the audience. In other words, I wanted to show what a person from the outside might see. I was struggling between those two ideas, but I ended up just choosing the latter. To add on, I was really inspired by a TV show that I watch where the main character always pretends to be fine, even when he’s not, hence the sentence, “He smiles when he is sad.” I was also inspired by one of the artists I listen to who is similar to the main character. Just like the main character, he also tends to act like he’s okay even though he’s not. For the video, I wanted to make a video that showed lyrics while I spoke. I tried different softwares, and the one that I thought was the easiest to handle was Videopad. After I tried to find a background image that fits the theme, I ended up finding a picture of these two people walking towards the sunset, which I felt signified hope.