A Game of Pretend

I laugh on the outside,
But that's not really me;
I cry on the inside
I'm crying to be seen.

I look great on the outside,
But that's not really me;
I'm in pain on the inside
Why can't anyone ever see?

I'm that girl with the carefree smile,
The one who thrives on making people proud,
But she only exist for a while,
And then she's back wishing she was in the ground.

She cries all night,
And smiles the next day.
She does not let them know that she is not really okay.

"Are you okay?" they all ask.
"I'm fine," she replies.
That'll be the Q&A
Until the day she dies.

To the outside she's perfect,
She's the American Dream,
But on the inside she's hurting,
She's wanting to be seen.

Seen for who she is now,
Not for who she was then,
She wants to be understood,
She wants to be loved.

It's hard for her to talk,
Because they act like they understand,
But it's all the same,
The same game of pretend.

The only thing keeping her alive,
Is knowing that she has Commaful and God by her side.

I have great friends,
But they don't live close,
And I know that they would feel terrible,
If I made my life end,
So I'll just keep on playing,
This game of pretend.

This game of pretend,
The one we all know so well,
The one that brings us down,
It traps us in a cell.

Yeah we know this game,
It all ends the same,
It drives us insane,
Burrows us in pain,
Wishing it would end;
This game called pretend.