Hard to Dream

Alyssa OldhamFebruary 22, 2023

My dreams and desires: what could they be?
Do you really see me or what you think I should be?
With everyone's expectations always crashing down on me,
It’s a bit hard for me to try and dream.

What I desire is not what you want for me,
So you shove your own dreams and beliefs down my throat,
You walk all over me and everything I want to be.

Do you know how it feels, when you walk into a room but want to go right back out the door?
When you try to walk but everyone's expectations are pushing you to the floor?
When you do everything you can but they expect so much more?
When everything gets so bad that you feel like you can’t breathe?

People always tell me what I have to do and what I have to be.
But can’t you see?
But you people know nothing of me,
Or what I need.

I could do the same as everyone else, but you want more from me.
Have you ever become so stressed that you start to cry,
But then you dry your eyes, and get back to work,
Because you are told you have to, to show your worth?

When you just want to be left alone,
But you’re drowning in opinions that aren’t your own.

Can’t you see?
I’m not good enough for you,
And I never will be.

So, what is my dream?
It is to show you,
And everyone who never believed in me, that all I am,
And all I will ever be,
Is me.

Alyssa Oldham is a student at Robertson County School in Kentucky.