What Does a Teenager Do in the Dark?

Torn fingertips
slide on
steel strings
so much pain
It's not working

Scrawling words
of teenage angst
in a tattered
notebook
Crossing them out

My voice cracks
trying to sing
stumbling
on every word
There is no melody

Locked in my room
in the dark
of the early evening
a dim bulb
in a dusty lamp
the only light

I have to keep it quiet
so no one knows
what I'm doing
in here