~Charlie Gillick, Class of 2023

The boiling summer sun beats down upon
A thriving supermarket down below.
It looms above all of the other stores,
Full of all kinds of healthy food and drinks.  
Part of the plan to try attracting crowds.  
The plan has worked, it’s very popular.
With people always rushing in and out,
To try to get their food and leave quickly,
And none of them are looking at the ground.
All walking happily; this much is true.

But one man walking does not feel contempt.
For after a long morning of despair
When nothing really seemed to go his way 
An angry aura seems to come off him 
When others come near him he snaps and yells,
“Don’t go near me you dumb, annoying jerk!” 

So everybody stayed away from him,
While muttering at him below their breaths.
And even when he tried to ask for advice,
The people walk off unwilling to help, 
And he ends up alone, all by himself.
But even though he got what he desired,
He was much less relieved as he had thought;
Instead, more loneliness engulfed him then.

Because he had a bad start to the day,   
He pushed the whole world far away and sulked.
And ended up more sad than he began.
A burning flame is within all of us,
And all we humans can do is resist.