“Will You End It? The Census Objects.” – Nina Onest ’25

When your heart thuds

A constant thud which never ends,

Convince yourself it is fine.

When your head throbs

A throbbing headache which never ends

Do not speak of its thoughts.

Silence these and throw them away,

For it is all a figment of your imagination.

Your heart is light with joy,

And your head is filled with content.

You are the embodiment of pleasure.

Relax, never forget you are glad.

Feel otherwise and be to blame.

Speak up and become the maniac

At fault for all’s displeasure.

Why can you not be happy?

The rest of us are elated!

We share a heart and a head.

Where do yours live? 

See the love in the air.

Hear the satisfaction.

Taste the truth of our proclamation:

All makes sense here,

For all is well.

Hearts beat every minute per second.

Yours is no different.

Minds pound out many a moment

No different than mine.

Rest your head upon this reassurance:

Yours are just the same

As mine and hers and all of us here present.

Feeling isolated

Makes you a bore.

Why can you not be happy?

Be enticing, be exciting!

We are content with each other.

Join us, there are no worries.

We have done so much for you.

Look, we have come so far,

Discussing solely between ourselves

The errors you have been making.

Do not mess up our progress.

Can you please stop being such a burden?

Smile, you are ruining our evening!

We have done nothing wrong.

We are not the ones wishing to end it.

Quit meddling with our friendship.

You chose to be with us years ago,

So you of all people can not end it.

Mark my words:

Stay a little longer, you will see you were at fault.

For me and her and all of us here present

Share a single consensus:

We will be friends for eternity,

You included.

So, my dear,

Do not voice your pain

Or the agonizing sorrow laying within your heart. 

Block your ears,

Do not share your feelings,

Those hardships you have cooped up within your mind.

Soothe your heart.

Put down your heavy head.

For we will conjure

And bring about our final verdict.

While you until judged –

Politely with love, I assure, –

Will not dare utter a word

Expressing your ill desire to adjourn

This sustainable, happy friendship.

Shut up, be silent.

Feel no more ill emotion.

Harbor not a single grudge against us.

We will assemble once more.

And when we come together,

We will forgive you of your faults,

For we accept that not all are good,

Not all can see that they are perfectly happy and content.

Look now at yourself and acknowledge these as true.