Identity Poem by Riley Choma

Identity; a collaboration of everything that makes you who you are.
They think they know you but they don't!
Admitting they don't kills them like a knife, so they didn't, and they won't!
Deep down they know some things just aren't worth knowing, so they pretend.
They claim they love you, then claim they hate you, but they don't even know you!
They have no problem judging the character they have yet to even get to know!
They don't realize how much of your identity you hide.
You only do it because you are afraid; I know this!
You just want to be accepted but you fear the result; hate!
They don't accept that part of you, they couldn't, they wouldn't.
They don't see you but I do; I see the fear you hold inside!
You pick up the knife and I yell 'put it down! '
Before I know it we are both broken down, but I see you, I feel you.
They don't know you but trust me when I say I do.
I love the good and the bad, and I always will, always have!
In their eyes you're weak, but in mine you are strong!
All of the pain you internalize I feel seven-fold.
To see you smile I would take on any burden, walk any distance, claim any misfortune!
It's because I see you, it's because I feel you that I find the deepest parts of me!