Bug Someone Else Instead Poem by Shrutika Nagpal

I never said I hated you
Though the times I do
Are not very few.

I never wanted you to be dead.
I never wanted you to hit your head
But why can’t you just bug someone else instead?

Did you ever think being made fun of is fair?
Did you ever like being told you have bad hair?
Tell me one time that you were humiliated, yet truly didn’t care?

See, along with time, we’re meant to grow older
Turn more mature, rather than meaner and colder.
But I think that only happened to me, so I’ll be bolder
The weight of being the better person I’ll shoulder.

Please oh mean one, don’t be harsh to me
Please oh evil one, show someone else your tyranny.
I never understood why you irked me so insistently.
When others you approached so hesitantly.

It’s not like I’m incredibly vulnerable
To make jokes about people, I’m more than able.
But the way you make me feel
Makes me want to scream and squeal.

What right have you to be callous?
What is it that I did that inflated you with malice?
What renders you incapable of teasing anyone but me?
What makes you insult me with such vicious ferocity?

I used to try coming up with replies
A plan to embarrass you I’d devise
But then I realized it was really pointless
And also the ideas I got were pretty useless.

One last time I’ll request you tyrant
Stop being a devil-aspirant
Unless you want me to do something you will dread
Kindly bug someone else instead.