Unseen,
Unknown,
She walks through a sea
of foolish oblivion.
Their selective sight
never betrays knowledge
of her presence.
She does not pass the test
of visibility.
Happy chatter,
pretty faces,
mask a shallow emptiness,
but by flaunting seek to make
nothing into something.
Popularity’s appealing façade beckons.
It entices with a lie of fulfillment
and promises release
from maturity and meaning.

Unseen,
Unknown,
Their brazen eyes look blindly
and render her invisible.
She wonders sometimes about life
on the other side of the imperceptible chasm
of separation—the world over there,
to which she can never truly belong.
As she walks alone,
she glances back with a tinge of wistfulness.
But their indifferent eyes
within their faces’ happy masquerade
still do not deign to notice
her insignificance.
No welcoming countenance
or kind smile greets her timid peek
at a culture beyond her reach.
She turns her head
and slowly walks away.
They do not see,
nor know, nor care
where she goes.
But one teardrop on the pavement
marks the place she stood,
invisible.