Pretend It's not a Road to Nowhere
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, and maybe they won’t hate you.
Lie and deny.
Fill their heads with hopes and dreams of a something.
Believe them, like you know they’re true.
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, and maybe they won’t hate you.
But I’m low today, and the low is deep.
Don’t let them know.
They’ll hate you for it.
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, and maybe they won’t hate you.
Tell them there’s a goal, that life has meaning.
Scream the truth into your pillow at night.
If you hold it tight enough, they won’t hear you.
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, and maybe they won’t hate you.
Talk of hope and God and justice,
Of humanity and other made up things,
Of whatever fills the void and makes people think that yes, this is a real thing and it matters.
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, and maybe they won’t hate you.
Proclaim we exist; don’t let them know we don’t.
Speak on high of fire and brimstone,
Because even that is more comforting than the utter emptiness of reality.
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere, or surely they will hate you,
Even though I suspect they all already know,
If we acknowledge it, then what?
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Pretend it’s not a road to nowhere. Please, I’m begging you!
Deep down it’s all a big nothing,
But for lunacy’s sake, don’t be the one that says it.
Author's Note:
The above poem was inspired by the Bill Holland Challenge "The Door to Nowhere."