Starting Hardship Young

I fell out of love with the world one day

what was once beautiful and boundless

became dark, and finite

so quickly

as if I had stepped out from underneath

an umbrella of ignorance

that my mother tried so hard

to hold above me.

Not like rain, but hail

I was pelted with tragedy

and saw my loved ones

brought to their knees

by harsher elements

that I had never experienced.

When she lowered her hand

and the umbrella fell

I was exposed to all that was around me

I had once been shielded from

and at every side

I felt the cold breath of hardship

the wind that had chosen me

because I had never suffered.

A world that I had spent so long

so fervently loving

kicked me in the ribs

and threw me to the ground

like I was nothing.

The world I had loved

had never loved me.