When no one is watching

By Karla Doell

When no one is watching,

The popular girl, the life of the party who seems to have it made,

Stands wishing she could have the courage to dispel her masquerade.

When no one is watching,

The jock, receiving scholarships, who appears to be carefree,

Goes home to be the family's dissension scapegoat appointee.

When no one is watching,

The counsellor and greeter, filling others with comfort and healing,

Just needs for once one person to come and ask just how she is feeling.

When no one is watching,

The nerd who eats lunch alone, rejected, and unnoticed when he drops out,

Stays home to care for his sick mother; a husband and father they are without.

When no one is watching,

The reclusive child who shrinks back, will not join in games, and is just no fun,

Lives with her uncle, abused, and cursed as useless, with nowhere to run.

When no one is watching,

That guy making everyone laugh, the quipster, comedian, the famous class clown,

Is a derelict son, spending nights in his truck, his only place to lie down.

When no one is watching,

The boss who pushes employees too hard, is cold and just a plain slave driver,

Mourns the loss of his family from a car crash, in which he was the sole survivor.

Only in the muffled shadows can one hear the meadowlark cry out like the crow;

Before them the fire-lit cabin in the wind-swept tundra;

The gemstone concealed in the thorny crown.

Watch, when no one is else is watching.

Love, when they feel unloved.

See, when everyone else is blind.