Past; present; future

They ask.
They always ask:
what your drive is:
what your aim is:
what your lifelong goal is.

They ask
you
where your sympathies lie;
where your heart flutters;
why your heart flutters?
how you want to live;
who you strive to be like;
who makes you who you are?

They take all those answers from you
about
your-
self:
future;
present.

But they fail:
to ask about your past;
your demons;
your weaknesses;
your unexplained fears;

They-
don’t-
care-
about all the things
that held you up
to be this
version of yourself that
they find interesting.

They
don’t care about
all those skeletons in closets;
all those days spent mourning;
the sad moments that gave you
this strength that
they applaud.

They
don’t ask;
how many times you’ve been defeated
how many times you’ve had your heart broken.

The truth;
they don’t want to know
about what’s lurking within those
shadows of yours;

They
don’t need to know what it is;
what you are.

They
just need to know:
you’re
less beautiful than them.