In the blink of an eye, her whole world was lost
Then he came, he who she believed would be her guardian angel
For she did not know that love it self would have a cost
And believed that he would forever be faithful
Everything turned out to be a dream
Once again, she had a shattered life
But, oh, how real did it seem
The answer then she found in a knife
There was no more hope she could seek
With what was done she prayed to finally lay in peace
All was gone and she was weak
No longer will there be grief
She had said good bye to all her tears
She had escaped all her fears.

Will there ever be a day when all the wars will come to an end?
I, myself, can not answer that
I can only be one of those many dreamers who wish for world peace.
Our soldiers have gone in pursuit of that dream and give us hope that we may succeed,
However, how can we?
When blood is splattered everywhere and violence is the "answer" to any disagreement.
Some day though, I believe, there will be an end to the darkness of war and there will only be the light of peace.

Dark-eyed poet
in the long night
come and burn
your time with me
let's set our whole lives
on fire tonight
and breathe each other's
smoking dreams..

Dear 17-year-old me,

I'm sorry that we failed you so many times. I'm sorry we didn't get the help you needed.  I know you are so incredibly sad but you will get better. It will get a lot worse before it gets better. You will get your heart broken. You will be alone. You will try to fix it by sleeping with a guy who can't love you and he will hurt you repeatedly. You will hurt you and everyone around you because of it. You will drink too much. You will get really drunk at a party and tell a guy he can do something to you that won't make you feel better. You will pass out. He will do it anyway. You will be best friends for a longtime. You will feel violated and *****. People will be mad at you for it. People will look at you different and make fun of you for it. You will stop eating. You will start cutting again. You will stop believing in God. You will try to **** yourself. You will drop out of art school. You will start smoking and doing many things you never thought you would do. You will start purging. You will leave scars on your body too deep to heal. You will try to get help. You will fail. You will lose sleep. You will sleep every other night. You will hate yourself. But it will stop.

You will find God. You will get help. You will start eating again and you will gain a lot of weight but it will be okay. You will realize you were taken advantage of at that party and you will know that is why you are struggling. You will forgive yourself and stop being friends with that guy. You will start sleeping. You will find joy in sorrow. You will love and be loved. You will paint and draw and create. You will stop cutting. You will laugh so much. You will look depression in the face and say "you don't own me." You will be strong. You will hope. You will grow.

I wish I could hug you and tell you that you are beautiful and wanted and worthy. I want to tell you that you are smart and creative and enough. I want to tell you that the world will come crashing down around you and you will be okay. I want to tell you that I love you and one day you will too. Keep going because life gets so much better. You get so much better.

-Your biggest fan, 20-year-old you