The Devil in Me | Teen Ink

The Devil in Me

October 17, 2022
By Anonymous

I screamed in my mirror waiting for my reflection to scream back 

But it never screamed, it stayed still

 painting the same picture I've seen for 5 years in a row

I used to pray everyday and every night to be prettier than the day before

But when God didn’t respond I decided there was no point to knock on his door

I know what it's like to be loved by everyone but myself 

And I know what it's like to die 1,000 times inside my head

A death that was never like being in heaven or hell 

It was like going to a place where my life was blocked by everlasting waves 

Every time I speak it's blocked by the winds

And every time I think I can’t understand it through the rain

It takes 50 fever dreams to bring me back to life

And when I wake, I die again when people say I don’t know what it's like

I did everything in my power to be beautiful 

But then I became powerless 

I wanted something more real than a fake life

But there's nothing real in a world of betrayal 

Will you stop betraying me if I got prettier 

If I starved every ounce of pride I got from the memories of my childhood

Would you stop and think before you picked another girl

I won’t be seen begging for respect but I’ll be seen begging for my old life back

 I tried to blame the devil for my mistakes but the devil turned out to be me

Will you still love me if I’ll never be happy 

If battles never end till someone wins, what would happen if the only battle was against me

Will I outrun the feeling of sadness before the tears drown my old soul

Can you rebuild a life that was once underwater

How will I stop dying if society never loved anyone that grows old?


The author's comments:

I feel like this poem shows what it's like to deal with different insecurities, especially what it's like to deal with them alone. When you're desperately trying to be seen in a good light you will do anything to get there even if it means your'e hurting yourself or other people. 


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on Oct. 21 2022 at 9:43 am
AngelsImagination GOLD, Leicester, North Carolina
10 articles 1 photo 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
Eleanor Roosevelt - "Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That's why we call it 'The Present'"<br /> <br /> Emily Dickinson - "Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul - and sings the tunes without the words - and never stops at all."

This poem really captures the reality of what a lot of teens (such as myself) sometimes have to go through. I love that you wrote this a sort of personal testimony kind of way. Very breathtaking, and heart throbbing.