NEPHART.COM

When the world was chanting,

“Baby calm down, calm down,”

I was just trying…

to calm myself.

And when the world was singing

“Baby, baby…”

I was trying to grow up 

the way my parents told me to

Grow up.

But all I needed

was a little water,

a little sunlight,

a little manure…

just enough to bloom.

When the world was dancing

to Gangnam Style,

a friend looked at me and said,

“Bro, you’re too simple.

No style.”

When the world was singing melodies,

I was listening to metal 

letting the drums shake my bones

like some wild spirit

had taken over me.

When the world was praising Titanic,

I was sinking in my exams,

failing 

bitterly.

When the world sped up,

I befriended the tortoise.

When the world said,

“You need to level up,”

I got game over

on the same level,

again,

and again…

my life stuck on a loop

while I sat there

thinking,

slurping ramen soup.

When the world was gossiping about celebrities,

I was sneaking outside my room,

just hoping someone…

anyone…

would greet me

hello.

I was living inside.

Someone was living inside me.

It was me…

or someone else.

I still don’t know.