The Truth About Boys Like You
By Rania Naim
I’m sorry I ran away.
I’m sorry I didn’t wait,
like I normally do.
I just know better now.
I’ve learned that waiting for boys like you
means that I’ll be left alone
while you go on with your own life
because you won’t come back.
I know that if you don’t try now,
you won’t try again later.
You’ll just disappear.
I’ll only be another memory — another girl.
You may wonder about me,
you may occasionally miss me,
you may ask about me
but you will never love me.
Because boys like you don’t really love,
boys like you only know how to take.
They can’t just give their all,
they can only give bits and pieces.
But sometimes they give their all
to someone else
who can’t give them their all
because they only like what they can’t have.
But it’s too soon, you say —
things might change.
Be patient.
Give it time.
But I’ve loved boys like you before
and they only left me broken
no matter how long I waited
and they never said sorry.
And I’ve loved boys like you before,
who carry treasures within their heart,
but they won’t let me dig deeper to find it
because that’s their private territory.
So I learned to run from boys like you
even though I want to stay
but boys like you don’t want girls like me
and I know this now.
Boys like you want girls like you.
Boys like you ignore girls like me
because they think we’ll always wait.
But girls like me also get tired — and they leave.