Mr. Superhero by Vanessa Hancock

Mr. Superhero
by Vanessa Hancock from Madison High School
Published in the 2007-2008 WITS Anthology I Once Was Young and Strong (Available for purchase)

Hello Mr. Superhero.
You must be the most jealous person
with your hidden desire to be like us normal folks
but you have to wear a cape and mask.
You have to go out there and save the universe.
You must feel envious of people with only one life
because you have a double life,
and all you truly love,
you cannot put at risk
you cannot love when you are a superhero

It is like you are an addict,
Mr. Superhero
you need another dose of lifesaving
of making people feel safer, even happier,
to recapture that high.
Until you can’t get enough,
you need to have more and more
until there are no more lives to save
and all the damsels are long gone.
The more you try to get back to the high,
the faster you fly,
the more you do,
the more your life turns to ruins.

Mr. Superhero,
The double lives you try to hang onto
are slowly becoming just one, your addict life,
the other one, well that will be long gone soon enough,
look at yourself Mr. Superhero,
look at you now
All you have is your mask and your tights.
So go help someone,
go get back to the high you strive for.
because at the end of the day,
Mr. Superhero
that is all you have.