Understanding

I don't expect you to understand me
I know how I act
the words that I say
the things that I feel
and the way that I live my life
are all mysteries to you.
You held me
you cherished me
and now you watch me disappear
fading into the mist of a darkened wood
heading down paths you dare not tread
and opening doors you thought locked for good
But that's where we're different
you and I
where you saw safety
I saw a prison
Where you saw a closed door
I saw opportunity
Where you saw taboo
I saw nothing but emptiness and lies
So no, I don't expect you to understand me
No more than I understand you
and your laws
and your petty ideals
But I ask you to let me live
as I let you
Give me the freedom I crave
Spare me your ill tongue
or your spiteful gaze
I offer neither to you
All I seek is the freedom I need
the freedom to open the doors
the freedom to chase my trails
and the freedom to follow the dreams that suit me
That is all I ask of you
and that is all I ask of the world.
Because I can break all of the ties that bind me
save the ones imposed by my fellow man
in a senseless bid for safety
in a world missing all notion of compassion
I can throw my shackles aside
and unlock my own chains
all while rotting in a world devoid
of even the basic concept of understanding

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98 Responses to Understanding

  1. Emma says:

    This really tuched me, because at the mo people have bin telling me they really dont understand me and im not sure i understand my self but i no all i wont is to live my life the way i wont to and this poem make me really feel like i could be free. Thanks!!!!

  2. *lauren* says:

    all of your poetry i have read thus far starts out tragic and mournful, then at the end it twists to be optimistic. interesting. i'm impressed with this poem. very well written, good flow, good points in it. i can relate.

  3. Valkyrie December Mercy says:

    How can you know me so well when we've never even met. This poem is a mirror to everything that has just happend, except those hurting and binding me do not understand. Maybe if i share this poem with them, the will. Once again, thank you. YOu inspire all that read.

  4. Savannah says:

    Beautiful.

  5. Samantha says:

    This is most certainly true. You shouldn't have to act different for the sake of other people. You should be your own person always. Not that I haven't ever changed how I act for someone (hating myself for it), but everyone should express there uniqness in some way whether it be through art (as you so well do), or anything els….Sometimes I get frusterated with how some people act. But it is only then that I remind myself that if we were all alike, this world would be so very boring. Your poems open peoples' eyes, their minds as well as their hearts. You've opened mine…..thank you.

  6. Andrea says:

    I've read the comments (at least half anyway, there's A LOT!heh) and people are saying how they feel this away about society. Well, this is something I'd like to say to my mother.(but I'm scared! She's a frightening woman! hahaha) So, this is another… ummm… ok I'm just gonna say it again… EXCELLENT poem. =D

  7. Amanda says:

    it shows the inner most deepest thoughts all of us must feel. it makes you relize you are not the only one who feels this way it is truly the best I read in a long time keep up the great work

  8. Teresa says:

    This poem is doing justice to what i am living in my own home, my own family does not understand me, they never have. I have always felt like an outsider with my family, even friends have been more welcoming into my life. In these lines lies everything i am feeling and am frighten to tell my family.
    Your poetry has brought light into my eyes. My life is written in this lines and finally I feel free. Thank you.
    A very talented individual indeed. Keep embracing the thoughts of such beautiful mind.

  9. tears of ashes says:

    well i'd have to say that you totally have figured out the way people are. in this life and in this world, people totally do not understand or just don't face up to what they could possibly understand. thanks for making this clear. keep the feelings you have alive.

  10. Aaron says:

    if only it were so simple

  11. sandra says:

    hi your poem is amazing i love it
    i have poems myself but not on a website though i write them out on a piece of paper
    well im going to read all of your other poems so c ya
    ciaoz(byez)
    sandra

  12. stephany says:

    wow i really love this poem its kinda like my life in those words. this has touched me a great deal thank you.

  13. anaya says:

    wow… i loved this poem. it was like reading something i havent had time to write. its all the things we need to say to ourselves and any one else who tries to hold us down. good work.

  14. Kelli says:

    I dont think i can describe how much this poem means to me, i mean, youre telling me my relationship with my mother. But then you go tell me my relationship with my friends. i dont see how its possible for you to be able to put into words what im still struggling to think about. jeez, what can i say…thanks.

  15. zaty says:

    this poem is simply beautiful. that's the only word to describe it. i couldnt put that much emotions into words the way you did. good job.

  16. Snow says:

    I love this poem, it's awsome, very powerful. God I wish I could create something like that! I shouldn't go into that, but it is a realy realy good poem.

  17. maria says:

    wow! i can relate to this i was feeling down all evening but hey u made my day this makes me a bit stonger and very happy (feeling good about who and what i'am)

  18. Taylor and Karina says:

    wow is all karina can say. we both can really relate to this poem. nobody really understands us but yet we're still friends with the same people. i don't know but still wow!

    Love yours truly,
    Taylor and Karina

  19. Blood Tears says:

    hey, im only 13, but this does mean lots to me, my family, of mother and sister do not understand the way i am, the poetry i love such as this poem, which i relate to, and they trap me here forever…
    your poem means lots to me and is close to my heart!

  20. melinda says:

    i myself am a poet and i have writtne many poems that reamind me of this one, you couldnt have written it just for me, but i feel like that when i read it.

  21. ebonyheart says:

    wow i love this poem, it is really good. im a poet also. i keep all my poems and entries and thoughts in a notebook and i have all my really good friends write things down in my notebook it really helps. back to ur poem it is awesome youve put into words what i have been trying to but i can never get it quite right. awesome love it!

  22. Greg says:

    hey i only clicked onto this site today and wow this is the first peom i read and it is truly awsome! you are now my GOD!

  23. Dark Thoughts says:

    Hello, This is an excellent poem, I too write poetry, but mine is dark, and suicidal. For instance I made a poem called Sorrow and Pain, This poem is about me dying and reviving to kill one of my enemies that have put me through all of my pain and suicidal thoughts. I am only 12 years of age, and I understand alot of this, I have gone through counciling more then once(too many times to count) and still nothing has worked..If you every have suicidal thoughts and don't know how to work or write it out, contact me at hoboswill_rulethe_world13@hotmail.com…I know this e-mail address is childish but it's always good to let the inner fun out of you then to hold it in and let it die away.
    From the world of lies-
    Michele.

  24. Celia says:

    Basically my parents ignore me all the time and i don't exactly fit in at school so there are a lot of people how hate me. Then when i write poetry about being an out cast and being mad and hurt my parents and my peers and my teachers blame it all on the fact that i'm 14 and just going though some kind of "phase". This is how it has been since i was 11, so i don't expect people to understand me anymore. Then again occansionally i'll come across someone like Chase how is bi and is as hated and ignoed as i am and the small amount of faith in man kind that i have left is revived. SO even though i don't expect people to understand me i know there are a few how do. Anyway, great work as usual Raven.

  25. Sara says:

    I think we can all say that our parents or families or whatever don't understand us, but I think maybe that our biggest problem is that many times we do not understand ourselves. We expect others to try and to see us for who and what we are, when we are still uncertain as to what we hold within. We can't expect understanding when we don't make the attempt, and knowing that we all see poetry differently I feel the need to contribute a slightly different view to this in particular: instead of this being about those who don't understand us, why can't it be about us and the dual sides to our minds and hearts that we all know are there? I know that more often than not, we agree to put on the facade of normalcy, or what it is percieved to be, merely to be understood, but this isn't understanding at all, merely submission to a society that we secretly abhor. As long as you understand yourself, what others believe shouldn't matter, no matter how much in this day and age it truly does.

  26. jemral says:

    yeah…my family doesnt understand me either. they hate that i do things differently from them…i loved your poem…

    peace:

    jemral

  27. chelsea says:

    i liked your poem becouse i think all parents are like that and they really dont understand you and there always telling you what to do.

  28. Out-of-Control sweetheart says:

    HEY, THIS POEM SAYS SO MUCH. I can't believe that parents are soo… DIFFERENT! I just had a huge fight with my parents, and this was the perfect explaination! Sometimes things just dont go the way they should. I love your poem, and i would love to read more!
    PEACE OUT POET!

    Forever Sweet,
    the Out-of-Control-sweetheart

  29. Risika says:

    understanding-
    it seems easy but is not,
    it takes time and effort
    it takes patience and love-

    thought that never happens
    why?
    ~RiSiKa~

  30. Lottie says:

    Hey, I read a lot of people's writing and rarely click or connect with it. But I love this one so much. It's written so well, how it flows the whole feeling/emotion of it. I can relate to it. Good job. x

  31. lostunicorn says:

    people always try to tell me they understand, but I know they don't. They haven't lived my life, felt my pain, walked my path. They don't understand how I feel trapped in this emotionless world of stupid, shallow, people. I DON'T understand…but I relate.

  32. raven wall says:

    i love this it sounds just like me and my parents

  33. logan says:

    i thought that the poem understanding was amazing it opened my eyes

  34. Danielle says:

    really good poem…i totally feel you on that one
    -Danielle

  35. Ann says:

    Amazing Poem
    I loved this poem…
    I can completely relate to this one.
    Some people dont seem to understand me, they say they do at times, but I know they dont.And none
    will ever understand me.All I ask is for them to let me be me, and not someone I am not.

  36. Isis says:

    this is excellent and this is exactly what every one needs to read an understand….this poem quite frankly is almost like the story of my life

  37. Brittany says:

    this poem is very creative and has a lot of meaning in it to which i can relate to.There is not one person who really understands me except myself.

  38. Deathbyimitation says:

    How do you understand someone when you don't understand yourself? Love the poem!

  39. soul shot says:

    ur poems r amazing this one has all tht my has in it

  40. gabi says:

    i understand what your going through people treat me the same way them not understanding not paying attention only listening to what they want to hear so stupid and stubborn lonely and fallen great and unseen calm and on fire just no one understanding the real me

  41. devilblood says:

    i love it, its me all over inside that poem, alot of passion inside,

  42. tamika says:

    thank you for this. I stumbled onto your site a week or so ago. My mom and I have had some life long issues..I'm now 34.

    This said it all to her.

    Thank you so much.

  43. Serila says:

    i like it a lot. it kind reminds me of the same problems that i have with my own family.

  44. jeff labbe says:

    this poem speaks to me. it almost made me cry. thank you

  45. evan says:

    thank you for this poem. it spoke to alot of my friends who don't get my life and life style.

  46. lossing says:

    this poem real make poeple understance what love really about and how poeple understance the love be lose.

  47. dacia jones says:

    this poem really make me understand love and when its gone its gone

  48. tear drops says:

    SO ME LAST YEAR NOW I DON"T CARE WHAT ANYONE THINKS!!!!! good poem!!!

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