Not By Me II

Change is never easy. You fight to hold on. You fight to let go.
--Daniel Stern, The Wonder Years

Not By Me I

by: Naomi Shihab Nye
A boy told me
if he roller-skated fast enough
his loneliness couldn’t catch up to him,
the best reason I ever heard
for trying to be a champion.
What I wonder tonight
pedaling hard down King William Street
is if it translates to bicycles.
A victory! To leave your loneliness
panting behind you on some street corner
while you float free into a cloud of sudden azaleas,
pink petals that have never felt loneliness,
no matter how slowly they fell.

I'm Tired

I'm tired of all the cliches,
I'm tired of all the people whining,
I'm tired of groups claiming special names,
I'm just tired of all the cliches.

I want to complain about it,
I want to set the world straight,
I want to make people understand!
I just want to complain about it.

I'm sitting here trying to tell you what's right,
I'm making you find the meaning for life,
I'm having to comprehend the feeling,
I'm sitting here, trying to tell you what's right.

People have made great things,
Some have been recognized,
Others lost.
Me? I wish to just be taken seriously.

So the next time you feel life living inside,
Touch that world, feel the pains of others,
Tell someone else,
Because people just don't understand.