Missing Pieces

I’m still trying to find all the pieces of this puzzle.

It’s starting to take shape, but it’s not right yet.

I know where I’d like some pieces to go,

but I can’t find them, and nobody can help.

Sometimes I find pieces from other puzzles

and try to place them in, after shaping them to fit better.

And when they do match, I have to wonder

why my box couldn’t have included them?

And then there’s the pieces that aren’t malleable.

The ones you can’t borrow,

like the one you get at your first sleepover or school dance.

And there’s the ones I’m not missing,

but most people are.

The ones nobody wants, they can be haunting.

Those I can’t shape, they shape me.

I often thought the puzzle maker was sadistic.

To give me something so frustrating to put together.

Where are the the instructions even?

Sometimes I still think about just throwing it away.

But maybe I just wouldn’t be me

if I didn’t have to put this together.

And maybe it’s fine with pieces missing.

There’s a mystery to it.