Be real.
Feel free.
Stand your ground.
Do not retreat.

Hold tight.
Love life.
Endure the dark,
wait for the light.

Never stoop to someone else's standards.
Don't ever walk through others' hazards.

Love is always all embracing,
never meant for all the chasing.

Wait for it,
patiently.
It's worth the wait.
You will see.

BitterSweet

Life is so precious,
with all its glory.
Oh, how Fate
tells a different story!
Those we loved,
whom now are gone,
one day will reunite
with angelic song.

Churned to sweet,
Death put on repeat,
until all loved ones are gone.
There are more deaths
than death of the body.
There're more ways to sing
than through song.

Short but sweet.
Bittersweet.

For Keith and Her

Created October 21st, 2018,
early morn.
Completed tonight,
while I mourn. ~Shan

I miss you.
I look everywhere.
But I can't find you.

I need you.
You thought I didn't care.
But I care for you.

I love you.
To tell you I do not dare.
But I want you.

I like you.
So many attributes you have.
I want to tell you.

Where are you?
Your location would you share
if I asked you?

I know you.
You think you're a lone bird,
soaring high in the obscure.
But if you look,
you'll find me,
looking for you.

The assumption
The looks
The phrases

People everywhere
Drifting among them
Wondering if they know.

Why do they assume?
Why do they stare?
People all around
But do they care?

The mess of the world
The pain it caused
The loneliness endured
Can pain be let go?

Can anyone understand?
In the ebb and flow
The business of busy
The happiness unknown.

Do you hear me?
I am among you.
Can you see me?
Or am I a ghost?

They, the proverbial "they"
What do they know?
The hurt they cause
Lost in the cold

Evaporated by morn
Pull it all together
Before you step out the door.

Put your smile on
Like a winter jacket
So very needed
Just to hack it.

One thing untouched
One thing never to evaporate
The inner happiness
The inner great.

Knowing of my innocence
And that I'm not to blame
Helps me build my fortress.
I will stay the same.

These words unfinished
Just like they left me.