We are the ones who are hard to understand
We'll be the last ones in the movie theatre
because the ending scene made us cry
We'll stop to smell the roses
because they deserve to be appreciated
We are the ones who will take the time
to learn what keeps you up at night
We are the ones who will imagine
an entire future of adventures
with the people who show us love

We are the ones who will love you more
than we love ourselves
We will give you our strongest parts
in hopes that we can make things better
We desire to see you become the best you
to make sure that you always feel our love
We crave affection and appreciation
We give a piece of ourselves away every day
sometimes to people who don't deserve it
Our love is easy to take advantage of
and sometimes we don't get back
the love that we give away

When we hurt, we crumble and fall apart
We constantly have to put ourselves back together
We are more fragile than we like to give off
We carry our emotions on our sleeves
Our flaws have the ability to consume us
We aren't afraid to give you the world
but we are afraid to feel unloved
We want you to see what we see
We want you to understand where we're coming from

We are good people with good intentions
We are stronger than we believe
Not everyone can feel the way we feel
We feel too much, too often
We are not hard to love
We are something not everyone knows how to love
But you need to remember that
your worth does not change just because
no one is there to appreciate you, to remind you

You are not any less lovable
You are the most lovable person in the world
You are a light that the world needs
Your kindness is not your weakness
You do not need to change for anyone's acceptance
You do not need to stop giving love
just because you don't get any back
Your heart is the best thing about you

And one day when you least expect it
someone will notice you from across the room
and know exactly how to love you
They will think all of these things are beautiful
They will deserve the love you can give
They will fill the empty space in your heart
But for now, don't stop feeling
We are the ones who feel everything so deeply
We are the ones who can't give up because
We are the ones who will teach the world
how to love

My children will have a childhood.
I will make sure of it.
They will swim in ponds littered with Lilly pads
Dive down to muddy depths like fearless fish.
Sink tiny toes into slick black mud.
They will thrash strong tanned legs
Toward the gleaming surface above.
And **** deep breaths of country air.

They will slumber beneath the stars
To the sounds of bullfrogs and singing crickets
And the frenzy of flickering fairies of the night.
They will use glass wands of glitter
Just as a magician might
To hammer
All at once the warm dry earth
Sending grasshoppers springing
In startled unison-
Like magic
To escape the alien vibrations.

They will run barefoot through fields.
Drag behind them a ******* beast named
Ballou or Bear- or something like it.
He who leaps on four legs
And licks with pink tongue.

They will dance to songs
They do not understand.
And fashion forts from fallen brushwood.
They will swing from high up branches
Only climbers of trees can reach.

They will discover an island of trees
Some sweltering summer day
As they wade through waist high
Green grass that breathes along
With the erratic waving of the wind.
They will claim it as their own.
They will name it Sail Away or- something like it.
And ***** a flapping flag of dishtowel and twig.

They will pull from backpacks
Granola bars and beef jerky
And gulp water from their base camp.
And return only when it is too dark
And they are too weary
To embark on any more adventures.
My children will have a childhood.
They will have one because I did.

They have steadily been building up
Gathering-
Strengthening in numbers.
Each buzz growing louder
Creating a deafening hum.
All of my thoughts are drowned out by the hum.
Save for you.
You are the hum.

I am the tree.
I am the leaves that swing from the branches.
I am the flowers the burst forth
From tiny buds in the spring.
You are the bees.
You are the bees that hum in the tree.
Covering every inch of green that grows
Slowly taking my life.

Like a super swarm of bees
You came to me.
You learned my limbs
As the bee learns branches.
You pollinated the tiny buds
To make them grow.
Tender.
Caring.
With love.
What an exquisite duo the tree and bee.

But now you take
All that I afford
All that I have left.
The droning never stops in my mind.
It is all consuming.
A dark sanity swallowing fog.

The buzz has changed of late.
No longer a loving hum
But a greedy one.
You **** from me my very air
And I can't breathe.
You yield from my branches
All that you once loved.
You take my nectar
And leave me stripped.
Depleted.
Naked.
Alone.

You have taken my sweet nectar.
You have stolen my sweet nature.
Left me bitter
And blue.

When summer comes to an end
And the bees slowly leave the tree
Behind
The memories will begin to fade.
The humming will grow silent.
And the burning
Reds and oranges of my pain
Will seep into my leaves.
And each will fall.
They will call it autumn.

The buzzing will stop.
Each bee compelled toward
New plenty.
You will have flown away.
And I will stand.
Trunk
And limbs.
To suffer through winter
Until the day the bees
Return to my weary
Branches.
Return to my weary branches
And love me.