Paper Town

And from atop,
Everything looked flawed.
As if the walls were cardboard,
And the cars, some shiny plastic.
All the lines distorted,
With cotton clouds just hanging.
Lengths and lengths,
Of imperfections.
And an uncanny comfort,
Seemed to engulf me.
I thought to myself,
I too am paper and glue,
And so is the case with you.

If you don’t like poetry, I get it. Here’s what I wanted to say: At times when we think we are at our worst, we forget that the people around us are equally vulnerable and fragile. The world around us seems to be perfect, and we feel like the only anomaly. But when we reach the top, we realize the world is equally flawed as it was before and will remain so forever. We often think of ourselves as strong yet brittle. Life becomes much easier when we accept the fact that we are nothing but paper—some plain and classy, some vibrant and colorful, but all whose beauty is ineffable. We come in all shades and textures. We also fold and get wrinkled, sometimes even torn, but we glue ourselves back together, for our minds and souls come from beyond this paper town.

Inspo: This idea first struck me when I was reading Paper Towns by John Green at the age of 18. The ending left me deeply unsettled, lingering in my thoughts long after I’d turned the final page. Now, eight years later, I’ve arrived at my own interpretation of its meaning.