The Dukeries Academy, 2023
I sit in my dimly lit room,
Hunched over,
Rotting at my desk,
Staring aimlessly at my laptop screen,
With too many tabs open,
With too many hours gone by,
My eyes are starting to sting
And the clocks are reading a.m.,
I’ve been working for hours,
But it’s all worth it right?
To see that grade 9 on my paper,
To make my parents proud,
To carry on being the “gifted girl”, the “smart one”,
The things I’ve always been,
The only things I’ve ever been,
But it’s all worth it right?
All the time I put in,
The bags under my eyes painted over with concealer,
The sinking feeling when my grade isn’t what I wanted,
It’s all worth it,
So a number can wipe away my tears,
Stitch up my pain,
It’s all worth it, right?
