fifteen

and the headlines everywhere will read

"eager electron boy
potentially energetic"

they'll talk for pages,
the journalists-
paragraphs about his exploits,
which element he's seeing,
where's next in his orbit

but he told me the real story

he said he wants to step down
and relinquish his sweet sorrow
so that everyone can see
his true colors, and
whether they're hidden or whether they glow

they're there and i can't ignore that
no matter how much i want to

"enervated electron boys
compose my being,
live lies, lament"