What You Don'T Know Poem by Annie Horrigan

They say what you don't know won't hurt you
Maybe so, maybe true

But what if it hurts me?
What you're too ignorant,
Too distracted,
Too uncaring
To merely notice;
It hurts me.

Sometimes I rejoice.
The power, oh, the power,
No matter how twisted,
Feel lovely.

The hiding,
The lying,
It all feels so powerful
Because you're so easily fooled

How strange it seems,
That there's some part,
Even just a small part of this,
That I love

It's like a talent,
Or a skill
That I'll always be the best at,
Because it's only you and me

You make it so easy for me
You make it so simple,
It's now a second nature.
It's as simple as breathing.

They say what you don't know won't hurt you
Maybe so, maybe true

But what if it hurts me?
You say that you care,
That you want to help
But how can you help?
If you're so blind,
You can't even see it.

And why can't you see?
When I'm always so near
You're just a disappointment,
Another frustration

This thing, the monster,
It looms, so painfully obvious.
It almost consumes me
But you're still so blind.

Monsters do exist,
They exist inside me.
Some could be helped,
But it feels so hopeless

Like being smothered,
But never losing consciousness.
Like drowning,
But never dying.

So don't compare, don't ever compare,
Unless you know.
And don't judge, don't ever judge,
Because you'll never know.

They say what you don't know won't hurt you
Maybe so, maybe true

But what if it hurts me?
This sucking force,
That leaves me exhausted
What if it even kills me?
Then, finally, what you didn't know,
Will no longer be hurting me.
It will hurt you.