The Anonymous Ones

A song by Amandla Stenberg.

You ever look at all the people
Who seem to know exactly how to be?
You think, they don’t need piles of prescriptions to function naturally
Well look again and you might catch it
Just stay a minute more
There’s this little moment after the sunny smile
As their eyes fall to the floor
And the truth starts peeking through
They’re a lot like me and you
They can fake a smile too

The anonymous ones
Who never let you see the ache they carry
All of those anonymous ones
Who never name that quiet pain they bury
So they keep on keeping secrets that they think they have to hide
But what if everybody’s secret is they have that secret side?
And to know they’re somehow not alone
Well that’s all they’re hoping for
What if they didn’t have to stay anonymous any more?

Spot the girl who stays in motion
She spins so fast so she won’t fall
She’s built a wall with her achievements to keep out questions
Without it, is she worth anything at all?
So nobody can know
Just what the cracks might show
How deep and dark they go

There are those anonymous ones
Stuck inside the perfect frame they’re faking
All of us anonymous ones
Who pick themselves apart till they start breaking
And we keep on keeping secrets that we think we have to hide
But what we really need is somebody to see that secret side
And to know we’re somehow not alone
Is all we’re hoping for
And then we wouldn’t have to be anonymous any more

The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy
The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy

The anonymous ones
Noticed by none
The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy

The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy
The parts we can’t tell, we carry them well, but that doesn’t mean they’re not heavy

The anonymous ones
Who might just need this moment to remind them
That there are more anonymous ones
They’re out there if you take the time to find them
Just to know we're somehow not alone
Isn't that all we're ever really looking for?
Maybe we, we don't have to be anonymous any more.