An Exoteric Farewell Poem by Nisho Olme

The happiness I show
Is just a mask to hide my pain
A place where all my sadness hides
Like teardrops in the rain
It puts away my longing
In a jar of old regret
And turns my head to thinking
Of the girls I haven’t met
It tries to make me think
That I am better off alone
And stretches out a broken heart
That’s only newly sewn
It fills my head with false delight
And tries to make it real
But all the joy I had
Was in the way you made me feel
The darkness of my past is lost
In all the times we shared
The happiness I long for
Is from times when you had cared
The memories you have left me
Cannot ever be enough
And the boy you used to know
Isn’t really all that tough
He goes to bed and sings away
The things that he liked best
When you and him would lay there
On your couch and simply rest
He cries away the comfort
That he found within your smile
And rips up mental pictures
‘Til he’s buried in the pile
And even though he hates the way
You’ll always make him sad
You once made him feel needed
And for that, I guess, he’s glad


(To Rachael)