You Had It Hard

• Jesse Angel, Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2018

“Back in my day.” We get it. It was hard.
Congratulations, you worked, we get it.
Oh your parents beat you? How quaint. We beat ourselves.
You cut yourselves playing? We cut ourselves on purpose.
But it’s fine. Don’t worry. We get it. You had it hard.
You were beaten, bruised, cut, scraped, hit, hurt and harmed,
But do the cuts on your fingers compare to those on my wrists?
Never mind, scars fade. Physical ones anyway.
Whilst we might look fine, sound fine and act fine. We aren’t fine.
Of course, you wouldn’t know that. Over and over we hear it. Time after time.
After every fall we take, you cough it up again.
Ramming it into our skulls. Day after sweet day.
Can you say that again? You had it what?
Sorry, I can’t hear you over the scar tissue that once was my brain.
But it’s fine. We get it. We’re nothing compared to you.
You had it hard.