"Burden" is a raw, painful poem about a young person who believes she is unwanted and fundamentally flawed. It begins with a quiet detail: her mother used to say she loved her, while her father says it only once a year. That small gap sets up a life that feels repetitive and empty, and the speaker describes herself as "a broken down, broken thing."
The poem then turns inward. The repeated "What is wrong with me?" and the counting of cuts suggest self-harm, and the second question, "What isn't wrong with me?", shows how total her self-criticism has become. She wonders whether she would have been loved if she had been born a boy, and imagines that her family would be "free" without her. The final lines list ways to die in a flat, almost casual tone, which makes them chilling. The mood is bleak, lonely and heavy with hopelessness. Anyone who feels this way deserves support, and talking to a trusted adult or a crisis line can help.