Schoolyard Epiphany

I walked into a new school,

The tiles and stairs and desks all the same,

But this school was so unlike the others,

New friends, old teachers,

An experience waiting to be discovered.

The playground was a mix

of the old and the new,

Flanders and Power, the colors the same

Eagles and Gladiators, White and Blue.

The smell of the pines and the crunch of dead wood,

The feel of green bristles

A land of excitement and thrill.

But the bristles turned brown, soft and dead,

The stories became lies

my friends thought were funny to spread,

The wood chips left bruises

As I fell down the rabbit hole of a dying friendship.

Girl after girl,

Day after day,

“Let’s lie to Stephanie

She’s too naive to say anything.”

I never saw it coming

All the fights and betrayals.

All the tears and the lies.

All the struggles to not fall apart.

The school is not shiny

Its halls tainted blue

From new to old and old to new.

Alone in a school

All broken and withered

Not everyone is a good person,

Not everyone is a good friend.