Many

To many pains
Turn into too many tears.
Too many days
Turn into too many years.
Too many silences
Turn into too many thoughts.
And too many tensions
Turn into too many shots.

Potential

All that potential.
Potential, potential, potential.
All I hear is
"Look at all that potential."
"Think of your potential."
"I don't want to see you waste your potential."
What even is potential?
A future doctor, lawyer, teacher, President?
Did all of them have this thing called potential?
And were they ever more than their potential?
Nobody sees that there is more to me than potential.
I am more than a "future,"
I am a "here" and a "now."
Potential. What could be.
Am I defined more by who I might become
Than by who I am
And by who I've been?
Making mistakes and learning,
But hurting my potential.
Does knowledge and growth
Come at the cost
Of this damn potential?