Please Don't Judge The Outside

A dear friend of mine posted this on FB:

"Please don't judge people by outward appearances.
The most popular person I knew was the loneliest.
The most jovial person I ever encountered was severely depressed.
The people who I though had it all together were often hurting the worst.
I've been thought arrogant when I was my most insecure.
I've heard people say I was full of energy when I was my most exhausted.
Truly, each heart knows it's own sorrow. You just never know what someone has been through, until you really, intimately get to know them." 

Here is the poem, inspired by her words.

Please Don't Judge The Outside 

8/15/14

It's been a day of weariness -

Expectations take their toll,

As I am told I'm wonderful,

When I feel less than whole.

You say that I am popular -

Oh look how I am loved!

Yet here I am the loneliest,

With dark emotions shoved.

You say that I am respectable -

An example to the young.

But I am fighting battles

That you know nothing of.

You say I flow with tenderness -

There's such love in my stance.

But I keep pulling back away,

At every painful chance.

You say I have found joyfulness -

With smiles on my face.

But there is pain behind my eyes,

With none to fill that space.

You say I show togetherness -

Life looks so figured out!

But I am warring with my past

And cringing in my doubt.

You say I'm almost arrogant -

My words seem backed by pride.

But really I am insecure

And close myself inside.

You say there's boundless energy -

But that is not a fact.

For I am tired of this pace,

And weary of this act.

You speak of really knowing me -

And yet you never do.

You think I'm perfect at arm's length,

But I am broken too.

You speak still, almost glowingly,

Of all you see in me.

And yet I wish I trusted you,

To look and truly see.

~ZA