Right vs. Left Road

by Alesha Brown, 9th Grade

I go down the road that veers to the right,
and the things that I love are soon out of sight.
I tried to escape all my fears and my thoughts,
but when I thought I was free, I was really caught.
I tried to forget and learn how to trust,
and it felt so right, but I knew it would grow into rust.
That road changed my life and how the outcome would be,
but I wish I could have prepared for everything I would see.
I wish I could go back to my childhood innocence
and take the left road and buy little peppermints.
But the right road I took even though not by choice.
They silenced my thoughts and all sound from my voice.
I was alone on that road with no others in sight,
but one day I decided I was going to put up a fight.
I was tired of being forced into things I didn’t want to do,
and I wasn’t going to walk that right road like they forced me to.
I made my own path into the shrubs and the trees.
I got hurt on the way but was soon eased by the breeze.
I met somebody along the way, somebody like me,
somebody who didn’t want to just be.
We talked, and we laughed. We had some good times,
and we helped each other get to our lives’ first finishing line.