By: Violet R., Grade 8

Golden Blood

They said your blood was gold.

They said you were going to be better than

we were ever going to be. 

They said you needed more support

than everyone else,

But they must have not supported you enough

Or in the right way,

Or maybe at all because

we’re still here

and you’re not.

I remember watching you

talking and smiling and laughing 

Being everything they needed you to be

someone to cry to or laugh with.

You didn’t shine for yourself,

you shined for everyone else–

maybe you needed someone else to shine for you.

People say that gods have gold blood

called ichor.

special blood for special people or whatever.

They say people with gold blood can’t do anything wrong.

They’re perfect, they never make mistakes

Gold blood sounds hard to live up to.

You were definitely special

You were almost perfect.

But your blood wasn’t gold

It was red.

Like everyone else’s.

I could see your smile start to waver.

I could see you start to hesitate.

I could tell you couldn’t take all of it

but you did.

You kept going.

I didn’t know you had reached your limit

until I watched you hit the ground.

And realized your blood wasn’t gold.

I knew you couldn’t take that much.

But you took it with a smile

When most people would have taken it with a grimace.

You should have told somebody you couldn’t take it;

That your blood wasn’t gold…

It was just plain fucking red.