A Sad Child

Gut wrenching poetry at it's finest.

There are so many things I love about this poem and the many different ways it can please you while torturing you at the same time.

It's a poem that goes swimming in the depths of your soul. Gripping at all your nerves; squeezing every ounce of pain into your core. Tightening it's grasp on your soul with each passing second.

But, what I have learned from this poem is the fact that not all things worth holding onto, were at one point great. It is true that in certain moments in our lives their are some battles we have to conquer in order to live accordingly.

Being able to accept fate and go with the path that has already been written for you opens up your mind, body, and soul. Carrying out the life that was destined for you, without thinking twice... What if?

A Sad Child by Margaret Atwood

You're sad because you're sad.
It's psychic. It's the age. It's chemical.
Go see a shrink or take a pill,
or hug your sadness like an eyeless doll
you need to sleep.

Well, all children are sad
but some get over it.
Count your blessings. Better than that,
buy a hat. Buy a coat or pet.
Take up dancing to forget.

Forget what?
Your sadness, your shadow,
whatever it was that was done to you
the day of the lawn party
when you came inside flushed with the sun,
your mouth sulky with sugar,
in your new dress with the ribbon
and the ice-cream smear,
and said to yourself in the bathroom,
I am not the favorite child.

My darling, when it comes
right down to it
and the light fails and the fog rolls in
and you're trapped in your overturned body
under a blanket or burning car,

and the red flame is seeping out of you
and igniting the tarmac beside your head
or else the floor, or else the pillow,
none of us is;
or else we all are.

A Sad Child

Margaret Atwood