Youth Or Yield

By Ananya Kumari

"Kids these days have it all"

says the one that didn't take the fall.

The one not trapped in an iron cage,

bound to expectations till they reek of rage.

"Oh! look they are stuck in their lil screens"

well, only if the reality didn't appear so mean.

Terms and conditions stamped on since birth,

youth tarnished by those preset dreams.

"A kid? Won’t know the word struggle"

Scars under sleeves, yet called a muggle?

Juggling between smiles, tears and dreams,

only if we weren't chasing that scripted ending.

"Kids these days never try hard enough"

only if the golden child prompt wasn't so tough.

The youth stuck in a game called, for your sake,

where the only way to win is to lose oneself.

"You are a kid what would you know?"

Perhaps, the screams of suffering behind the doors?

The skipped meals and amends to fit in a lil more?

The tears of resignation that never made it through?

so, maybe next time

instead of these belittling phrases,

just stay.

Snap us out of our daze,

run a hand through the locks.

And maybe, just maybe

you will see a child,

you forgot to set free.

By Ananya Kumari