How The Dog Died | Teen Ink

How The Dog Died

October 12, 2019
By CheerSwimmer8 SILVER, Browntown, Wisconsin
CheerSwimmer8 SILVER, Browntown, Wisconsin
7 articles 0 photos 6 comments

Favorite Quote:
Do it with passion or not at all


If you give me a tight leash i will walk by your side.

i might fall behind a step or two sometimes,

But that is not okay so you pull the leash tighter so i will keep up always.

i tried to run away once; the leash was just so tight

When you catch me you pull tighter, tighter, tighter

So i can never run away again.

You want me to do tricks along the way as well--

The leash is so tight it cuts into my skin--

i think if it was just a bit looser i could do your tricks easier.

But it is hard to breathe and i am falling behind and i can’t do your tricks--

i am stumbling and tripping and trying to keep up as you pull that leash

Tighter and tighter and tighter!

i am so tired, i just give up and you drag me along, pulling the leash tighter still.

Tighter, tighter, tighter,

Until you choke me to death and now you are dragging a lifeless body.

Will it take my beet red face and swollen purple tounge and glazed over eyes for you to realize

That if you loosened the leash i would walk beside you?

i would do your tricks to make you beam with pride;

But i couldn’t; i could barely breathe;

But tighter, tighter, tighter still, you pulled that leash.


The author's comments:

I wrote this poem about the struggles of keeping up with expectations, especially in your teen years when you're trying to figure yourself out and still be "perfect" for other people. I wrote this out of the desparate feeling you get when you want to be successful and make people proud but it is too hard to just work at that all the time and sometimes teenagers need a break to just have fun and be a kid and relax or figure themselves out.


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