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"I look in the mirror Stare down my reflection Notice that it&amp;#039;s slightly irregular Not quite the model of perfection And I used to despise that To whine, groan, and complain Until I finally realized That all-in-all I&amp;#039;m not so plain I tried that &amp;quot;natural&amp;quot; look The one where less is more It took many hours to achieve And left my wallet with a big sore If it&amp;#039;s the inside that counts Why does Barbie have countless new &amp;#039;dos And if she&amp;#039;s so confident Why do you always have to buy her friends too These days if it looks good it&amp;#039;s fake True beauty is a word of the past Make-up, medicine, and surgery Money makes the perfect body last Think models are perfect Not by a long shot It&amp;#039;s the computer editing And custom-made clothes that make them look hot So as I stared myself down No detail gone unseen Things weren&amp;#039;t as bad as I thought All-in-all I looked fine as good &amp;#039;ole me My shape isn&amp;#039;t perfect No, I&amp;#039;m not a size two Or a four, or a six It&amp;#039;s not me; period; end of it; through I am what I am Curvy, curly and alive I wear what I want And don&amp;#039;t spend hours putting on a disguise If guys want a girl Who does hide behind a mask Sorry, I just can&amp;#039;t be her I&amp;#039;m not up for that task This is who I am A real live woman Proud, tall, and confident With features unique and uncommon I don&amp;#039;t need all that glitters To make me feel like gold I just look in the mirror As my smile unfolds.   -Erin L., Concord, NC Being there for each other since childhood Seeing one another as no one else ever could We shared our smiles, sometimes a tear Listening when we explained, but did we really hear? It may seem alright But what&amp;#039;s buried below calls for more than just sight Distance has torn us apart So now all I have to speak from is my heart It&amp;#039;s hard for me to go back to those days To relive all of my awful ways It may seem as though we are one But the things you&amp;#039;ve experienced, I&amp;#039;ve never understood Our lives go together like a book Except it calls for a second look So young, you had to undergo An amount of pain I shall never know I question why I can&amp;#039;t imagine What you went through losing him I pray my love has helped you through But deep down I know I cannot help you For all eternity we will stay Always best friends until our very last day  Dedicated to Jenifer V.   -Denielle M. Walked in Blast of music Pounding in my ears Place to have fun Little did I know that three hours later would be like this Here I am Bending down Crossed legs Holding my friend&amp;#039;s head up Sobbing and praying That she&amp;#039;ll live Regret comes And makes me sob harder Should have stopped her Should have taken us home But no Here I am Sitting on the floor Waiting for an ambulance Waiting for someone To help save my friend&amp;#039;s precious life  -MeiLi Y., Salem, OR &amp;quot;Thinking About You&amp;quot; I could remember all the good times we shared, not to forget our problems. As I lay thinking of how much you really meant to me. I can&amp;#039;t imagine how I&amp;#039;m gonna feel when it&amp;#039;s time to say good-bye. As we part and go our separate ways, I feel I want you to know and always remember what we&amp;#039;ve been through to get to where we&amp;#039;re at know. My heart will always belong to you, no matter what. But in return, I want you to know and remember everything about us: the laughs, the tears, the arguments, making up and the time shared between us. So always know that I&amp;#039;m always thinking about you. -Nikia C., Miami, FL butterflies everywhere flying away a man and woman sitting taking their minds to a different place butterflies everywhere calm and peaceful the sound of the butterflies&amp;#039; wings trickle through my mind  -Allison, NJ Distant   Somewhere down inside, I find a love so deep, it makes me break down, it makes me weep.   What is this love, so far inside? Where did it come from? Why does it hide?   Can I give it to someone? Can it be taken away? I can&amp;#039;t contain it, I don&amp;#039;t want it to stay.   Why does this love, that I want to show, hold me back, and won&amp;#039;t let me go?   Why can&amp;#039;t the words, ever come out? Where are they buried? Why do I doubt?   Why do I stumble, over my speech, this feeling I long for, I can&amp;#039;t seem to reach.   Why do I cry, over love and hate? Why can&amp;#039;t I give? Why do I take?   Weighing love down, the troubles I face, so overwhelming, where is my place?   My answers are hidden, so far away, I ask so frequently, but there&amp;#039;s nothing to say.   Maybe a conclusion, I will never find, but just might be answered, over time.   But forever this love, will dwindle deep down, pushing and fighting, but can&amp;#039;t be found.   Maybe one day, I will find, that I can leave, the rest behind.   And uncover this love, that sits alone, that wants attention, that has never been shown.   For no matter what, goes on in this life, I will never give up, it will never die.   -Srephanie S., Warwick, RI Written for my first love, Calvin!   Every night I crawl into bed Thinking about all the things you said You told me you loved me And that I completed you You made my life better Just by saying what you felt was true  Now you no longer Believe in me and you My broken heart aches From the pain you&amp;#039;ve put me through Yet I still know This is never what you meant to do  All because of these feelings so new What you believed was love May never have been true But my love for you was always true And forever it will be Until the day my life is through  -Bre C., Calgary, AB LATELY   Lately, I feel so distant from everyone around me. Are my troubles and unhappiness that hard to see? Lately, my plans have been fading fast, I cluelessly watch the present turn to past.   Lately, everyone thinks I should be this happy person, when deep inside, I can&amp;#039;t help cursing. Lately, my eyes have been windows to a most hidden soul, two doorways to the mind, a way to look into the black unknown.   Lately, no one seems to know the real me, they don&amp;#039;t know the hardships my life tends to bring. Lately, just hanging around this town, has done nothing but bring me down.   -Autumn W., Lone Oak, TX SUMMER RAIN   the rain comes and goes but when it comes I&amp;#039;m always there dancin&amp;#039; in the rain dreaming of you being here with me makin&amp;#039; my every wish come true when it rains I can feel the sweet love that you give me when you are there I can see that you love me when you are not there I still can feel you there you are the one for me you are my everything but until I find you I will always be here waiting until the day that we will be together forever I love you, and the only way I know you love me is in the summer rain  -Danyal S., South Shore, SD EMOTION   She&amp;#039;s had a bad past. I know the horror will not last. She cannot show emotion at all. I wish that I could break down the wall. She&amp;#039;s too nice; she doesn&amp;#039;t deserve it at all. She should know that she can trust. At least me, she knows, she must. She doesn&amp;#039;t like to hear it&amp;#039;s ok. She doesn&amp;#039;t want to hear it&amp;#039;s alright, no way. She doesn&amp;#039;t have emotion, it&amp;#039;s gone. She can&amp;#039;t give love, none. She doesn&amp;#039;t feel for anyone at all. It&amp;#039;s not her fault; it&amp;#039;s all her parents fault. She should know I&amp;#039;m here for her. Always will be, forever. I wanna help her &amp;quot;disability&amp;quot;. I really don&amp;#039;t think she&amp;#039;d let me. Maybe someday, she won&amp;#039;t have to wear a mask. And then when everyone asks: &amp;quot;You look so happy! Is it real?&amp;quot; She would say, &amp;quot;Of course, this is how I feel!.&amp;quot; And then she will be able to hold a guy&amp;#039;s hand. And mean it; her life would be a different land. And she&amp;#039;ll have emotion again. She can do it; I know she can. That day will come soon, I know. Until then she will only show. Her usual fake smile. Although it gleams for miles.   She&amp;#039;s had a bad past. I know the horror will not last. She should know I&amp;#039;m here for her. Always will be, forever!   -Sonja S., Clinton, MO "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/life/a11588/672478/>