The Smokestack

I look up to see the smokestack scrape the sky,

As I walk into the city of future brilliance,

Fearing that my hopes brought up too high

May be crushed into simple nothingness.

I’ve waited my whole life to prove myself,

To finally be what I’ve always aspired to be,

Yet I hear countless dreams put on the shelf

From the sudden discovery of mediocrity.

I gulp down hard as I walk into the city,

The smokestack’s puffs lead me straight on.

The warning signs cry nothing but pity.

Into the darkness, my dreams are all gone.

The smokestack wheezes on as I suppress tears,

My hopes brought up only to crash down!

What had I been planning all these years?

The days pass, I see nothing but a frown,

When I wake up to look into the mirror.

I sigh with hot hatred and loneliness,

Wishing my life could have been simpler,

But no point, I’m the one who chose this.

Buried, I’m buried under work and confusion,

My identity dead, who am I today?

Was I not an idol? No, just an illusion,

I have barely will to live day by day.

But finally as I stare blankly through the glass,

I take a mental stand against this tyranny.

I am not measured by a number in a class,

I won’t die for what people think I ought to be.

Life’s a gift, why should I suffer for expectations?

Smokestack, your trail cannot smother the Sun.

I am not alone in these painful preparations,

I have a right to break down like everyone.

Through this, I now see the castle in the sky,

It preaches hope with the sweetness of a song.

From that point, I smiled, I remembered why,

This is the very place where I belong.

Note: This poem is very autobiographical, including references to actual structures near my university. The smokestack and the "castle in the sky" are real places (though spoken of more vaguely in this poem), and everything here really did happen... You wouldn't believe how tough first year of biochem is!