# Hopeless Acceptance

Author: ShingetsuMoon
Tags: Poem, Poetry, personal

#8 of National Poetry Writing Month

Poem number 8 for National Poetry Month. This time a bit more personal for me.

* * *

Have you ever given up?  
Have you ever given in?  
Have you ever heard something  
so many times that you finally   
stop fighting it and just accept  
it? Even though you know it  
isn't true?

Have you ever been told something  
or thought something so many  
times that you just accept that  
it will always be a part of you?  
It will always be there haunting you?

Fat.  
Skinny.  
Dumb.  
Alone.  
Poor.  
Useless.  
Too pretty to be taken seriously.  
Too ugly to ever find someone   
to love.

We fight our hardest against  
the labels that are pressed upon  
us until we manage to surpass them  
and rip them apart.

We scream to the world that we  
will not be defined by their narrow  
minded views of what should be  
and what we are.

But what if we can't overcome it?  
What if despite our best efforts  
the label continues to chase us?

Beating against the walls of our   
mind even when those who spoke   
it have long since left us alone.

What do you do when you stare  
at yourself in the mirror and the  
only thing you can see is that one  
problem that torments you?   
How do you manage when   
your mind and body give   
up and accept that nothing is   
ever going to change?

We all love to talk about  
those who have improved their  
lives. Waged their wars.   
Conquered their bodies,   
their fears, their problems  
and come out on top.

But what about those of us  
who have not?

What about those left behind  
who held onto their hope with  
fervent desperation until they  
watched it crumbled to dust in  
their hands?

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/rn6wNg61
Part of the series National Poetry Writing Month
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