Genuine

You shut yourself off,
as if that would be enough,
to rid yourself of the thought
that you were somehow rotten—
broken beyond comprehension,
that rescue no one wanted,
dropped off at the fire station,
discarded and forgotten.

It’s not until hindsight
where we can reason,
come to realization
that the world wasn’t against you.
You learned to pretend
to be what others wanted,
shallow connections,
death by your insecurity,
when all you needed to be

was genuine.