What We Are

I saw the best minds of my generation 
drown in an ocean of stupidity.  I saw them 
shoving happiness up their noses and a 
shot of excitement from a vial down their veins.  
I saw them picking fights 
they could not win 
just so the pain could remind them how to feel.  
I watched the brilliance of  my generation 
fade away as they discovered that they could do it
themselves, 
bleed themselves away 
and watch the blood hit the floor.  The pain must 
never feel so real as in that 
moment when we watch our own lives slip away.  
I have seen us disappear in 
shadows because we lost the approval of one 
and never paused to search for the approval of another.  
I have listened to us scream and curse and 
attack each others emotions for 
no better reason than that we are afraid of our own.  
I have seen us bend down to the will of others 
just because they told us to.  I have heard our screams of 
frustration that no one will listen, no one will hear, 
and I have watched as the greatest people of my generation 
have thrown themselves away and 
destroyed their own dreams for something someone else
wanted, 
and I have watched them become 
people they are not.  I have seen us throw ourselves 
on the mercy of people we don’t even know 
just to feel alive, people who gave us a fake name and who 
we’ll never see again.  After all, what’s our 
virginity and innocence for a night of 
pointless pleasure.  What does it matter that we don’t 
know who they are or what they’ve done, as long as 
we can get off a little on the mystery.  I have seen us 
forget who we are because everyone keeps telling us 
the things we think and feel are wrong.  I have watched us 
give into fear and give up our missions to avoid the
ridicule of others, 
and we have sunk down to the floor in tears because we 
knew we needed to say it 
but we did not know how.  
I have watched as we forget the strength we have 
and never do what we are meant to do.  
I saw the best minds of my generation 
give up everything they were for things they didn’t need,

And I have watched them destroyed.