Thoughts and Things

Don't judge a book by its cover

The things that are kept inside

are the things that no one sees.

It's the things that are hidden by a smile

or a laugh

or a shirt sleeve.

It's these things that are hidden

that should be brought to light

but they are left to rot.

It's these things 

that kill us from the inside.

And no one ever suspects it, either.

The silent killer,

the one who doesn't leave any evidence.

But if you were to look closer,

you'd realize the evidence was everywhere

and you just didn't see it.

When you know what signs to look for

because you've lived through it

then you think that surely you'll be able to spot it a mile away.

You swear you'll never let your friends down

the way people have let you down.

But you still get surprised

when you're talking to a friend you thought you knew

and they roll up their sleeves to show their old scars.

The fact is

that we can't judge a book by its cover.

We don't know what's inside.

But we still try 

and we fail

and we still say that we didn't know anything was wrong,

we didn't know they felt that way,

we didn't know they were doing it,

we didn't know

we didn't know

we didn't know.