I'll walk three steps behind
Watching the way your toes grip the sand
I'll run past you
Arms outstretched like an aeroplane
Willing myself not to look back
Oh my, the stars light up the sky
Oh dear, the sandcastle is falling
Oh, oh no,
I don't want to look at you again
My heart will drown again
Oh no, I mustn't look at you again
Not again...

You took a scalpel to me, my dear
Skillfully working your way through the layers
Epidermis to lipids to muscular tissue until
The bone

You carved your name on my radius
Lovers' initials on a tree
Marrow leaked across your hand
A gift of the broken

You tried to sew me up, my dear
Realising you had gone far deeper than first thought
Surgeons hands you have not
A hack job, bound to leave scars

You've left me with bumps
Burns
Itches inside my very being
Refraining from scratching
In fear of what might come pouring out

In these moments where
The church comes alive
Shouting
Singing
Praising

These are the moments where I hear a still, small voice whisper with a smiling heart;
Dankie Papa.

Thank you Daddy.

Thank you for the noise
Shouts of praise and hope
But thank you for the quiet moments
Peaceful stillness in the chaos

Thank you Daddy.

There is a time for shouts
And a time for singing
But there is a time for a smiling heart to simply whisper

Dankie Papa.

sand sand everywhere
in my bag and in my hair
on my sheets and on my phone
i hate being sun-burned alone.

late nights and homesick hearts never make for a quiet soul
excessive coffees and quilted secrets make the heart beat fast,
palpitating, jumping, murmuring hyperbolic hopes

late nights and homesick hearts can only be softened
when one's soul is at peace,
hopeful,
restful,
joyful.

Your eyes hold the stories of bravery,
Intelligence,
Foolish hope,
& persistent dreams.

Your heart holds wisdom beyond your years,
As clichéd as it is,
You do give me butterflies.

I can see why many people think our generation is a group of young people lost in self-absorbed apathy. We cry out for our ‘rights’, our ‘right’ to faster internet, better houses, cheaper clothes, sexier partners and better ***, better computers, and the right to basic human life is lost. We seem to be defined by the foolish actions of one-night stands, drunken tweets and emotional tumblr posts. We starve ourselves to be skinner, work out incessantly to be hotter, binge to be cooler, reject common sense to be hipster, and fight to be accepted rather than fighting for true justice and hope.

Where are the leaders? I know there are more of us! The ones who shake with rage when they witness the horrors going on across the globe and dream of saving lives. Not all of us feel the call to stand up on a podium and yell, nor do we all desire to march down the streets near Parliament House fighting for those who have no voice. We cannot do everything all at once, not alone anyway. There needs to be unity for any successful action can be taken. Yes, one passionate person can seek justice and change hundreds of situations, but just imagine if every person in the ‘wealthy’ western world sponsored just one child, that child becomes successful and sponsors another child, it pays forward and global poverty becomes a shameful story in a history book. Imagine our children asking us about what it was like when the world decided to take a stand against corruption, greed, apathy and demonic forces, what would you say? Would you tell them you were at the front line, in the medical tents? Or would you sigh and shamefully confess that you didn’t believe in the need for change because all you wanted was just that beautiful girl/boy/computer/dress/shirt/shoes/camera/whatever.

There are so many things we can do, so many organisations to be a part of, find something in this world that makes your blood boil, an injustice you cannot stand to see and find a way to help remove that injustice for good. You are not alone in this, you are able to change peoples lives - yes, Y O U! You and I, we can change the world forever, just hop out of your comfortable first world and run towards the challenges that we can beat. I believe in you