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Bottom of the Kaleidoscope
I saw you through the kaleidoscope once or twice
I saw you staring back at me with your gentle eyes
You were shouting something, I recall
Shouts, but no words
Words, but no sound
I heard you, but I didn’t listen
Do words have any gravity if no one ever listens?
You were at the bottom of the kaleidoscope, I remember
I didn’t believe it was you at first
You looked so small, stuck in that cylindrical tube
In melancholic despair
Because the life you had once loved was gone
Once the truth had unraveled, it meant there would forever be regret for hadn’t been done
Kaleidoscope
Is this how you cope?
Being the image my kaleidoscope warps?
Are you lost among the dancing images that surround you?
Are you dead?
Are you alive, but cannot escape?
And in that sense, you’re deader than the weight of a dying man’s words
In each diamond of that kaleidoscope, I saw a different possibility
Events in my life that hadn’t occurred, but were apparently standing right in front of me
You showed me these images because you believed there was a part of me that was missing
There was, but it was much too painful to be reminded of those impossibilities
If pain is the release from ignorance, then I wish to be unaware till the end of time
I should have screamed every word inside of me when I had the chance
Confess that what people wanted from me, I couldn’t give
And when they wanted nothing of me, I could have told them that although I am terribly inconsiderate,
Not worthy of a friend, or of being one, more exactly,
I still would rather them never leave
To resent me, mock my very existence every day, but remain as my companion
It’s pathetic, I know but,
I believe that life is only complete when you have someone
You’re right, I should have gone on that train when I still had the chance
Sleep on the train ride to nowhere
To eventually awake from slumber and end up someplace
You told me one time that I should be more adventurous
Well, that’s exactly what I would do
I wouldn’t ask anyone where I was
Or how far away I was from home
Or how to return back to it
I wouldn’t do anything but explore the unknown while figuring out myself
I would be confused and in that sense, that would make me free
I find that beautiful, being confused
It’s actually quite miserable when you are able to see the truth
I would do just that, awake to discover myself in an unknown land
But no one ever chooses to be spontaneous
Because there’s comfort in being unaware
There’s comfort in knowing that you won’t experience everything
And in that sense, you never experience what life expected you to
You’re so terribly right, it’s painful to admit it
I should have told everyone my darkest secrets
So I wouldn’t be stuck with myself
Even if it hurt, at least it would be honest
At least people would know that I could verbalize my thoughts, and therefore, I spoke the truth
But I couldn’t even reveal the simple truth
That’s the worst of all:
Telling no one in fear that you’ll lose everyone
All of this madness made me wonder: “How long could I have stayed silent until noise and dreadful cacophonies overcame me?”
Then I realized, I was eternally mute
Because of you, I should have done a lot of things
Speak the words I never wanted to say
Indulge in the life I never wanted to live
Do everything that wasn’t me, but do it for you
Except, I didn’t
Nothing was ever worth it
Even if it meant losing you
Even if it meant I would only see you from the bottom of a kaleidoscope
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This article has 2 comments.
This poem is about regret and learning to accept your past instead of dwelling on it. When referring to the voice at the “bottom of the kaleidoscope,” the speaker is listening to her regrets. At the end of the poem, when she says “Nothing was ever worth it, even if it meant losing you,” she is becoming a less regretful person, thus losing the voice of her regrets.
I would also like to add that I heard about Teen Ink through the Young Authors Academy at Brigham Young University.