By: A. F.

This poem explores how pain can slowly creep up on a person and take over. Often, people do not notice the pain deep inside them, allowing it to slowly consume them whole. Still, we have the tendency to act like everything is okay, even though we are despairing on the inside. Such is the nature of pain, and I wanted to explore this in this writing. Also, I want to spread the message that if you are ever feeling in pain, let others know around you. Mental health is important, and if ones does not tell others what they are experiencing, they too can succumb to pain.This poem explores how pain can slowly creep up on a person and take over. Often, people do not notice the pain deep inside them, allowing it to slowly consume them whole. Still, we have the tendency to act like everything is okay, even though we are despairing on the inside. Such is the nature of pain, and I wanted to explore this in this writing. Also, I want to spread the message that if you are ever feeling in pain, let others know around you. Mental health is important, and if ones does not tell others what they are experiencing, they too can succumb to pain.

1st Place · High School Writing (2024)

Around the table, there was placed four seats, 

but the people present were only three.
You were there, but for them nowhere.
They laugh and smile, while you sit there, yearning to be somewhere, anywhere, anywhere but here, for nobody could see you.

My brother, the golden child.
My father’s firstborn,
the apple of my mother’s eye.
He completed their immigrant tale, a child raised so polite and well,

A filial son, their greatest achievement. He was all they could see,
so they catered towards his every need. He sat at the table, laughing with Dad, while Mom served him the finest meat, Then there was you,

observing in the background, cast in shadows, 

for nobody could see you.

You were the younger daughter, the unexpected one. 

Never a part of your parents’ immigrant dream,
for you were too loud, 

too rebellious,

too American.
Labeled a child who courted darkness,
a partner of chaos and calamity.

So, to maintain order, you were cast away.
At the dinner table, they were a harmonious family, singing a perfect melody.

Once again, you watched from the shadows, eating cold beans and leftovers.

Their favoritism was an eternal wound,
and now you bled into nothingness,
for nobody could see you.

However, fret not, 

for I see you. 

I see your struggles,

I see you hard work, 

I see your loneliness, 

I see it all.

I know you try, so give them time. 

One day, they will realize your light, 

One day, the wound will close,
One day, it will be a gathering of four. 

But for now, know that I see you.

We are all children of the shadows. 

Though we are exiled from the great table, 

we can find solace together,
for I see you.