Pain is okay
Pain I can handle
Pain is quite simple

If you can't take it
Just go **** yourself

Hope is what hurts
Hope is what's hard
Hope is quite complicated

You see,
Hope is what keeps you alive
Beyond where you can't take it anymore

**Hope is not as hopeful as it seems

This is a poem
That I just wrote
I'm sending it out
So it won't be alone

I'm taking this poem
And setting it free
You may tag along
If you feel the need

It will take you to places
That you've never been
Meet some new faces
Make some new friends

Which then makes you wonder
Where you would be
If this poem I just wrote
I didn't set free

You can climb to the mountain peak
But it won't set you free
You'll find it's lonely at the top
And the air is hard to breathe

You can search the ocean deep
For pearls pure and true
But in your search, I think you'll find
The water's cold and cruel

You can travel lands of brightest suns
In search of warmth to find
Abandon shelter that you've known
Just leave it all behind

But the sun will surely betray you
The mirage of bliss, scorched and burned
Perfection a dream that can't be reached
Another hard lesson learned

When your quest is finally over
You'll realize the love i had was true
But I won't be here with open arms
'cause you've no more roads to choose

You ask me,
Do I miss you?
How can I miss you?
You are always with me,
Your face behind my eyes,
Your soul sleeping in my heart,
The essence of you dances for me,
Sinuous curves shimmy within shadows.

You ask me,
Do I love you?
You should be asking,
How much you love me?
Then measure that feeling,
Holding it tightly deep inside,
Knowing that I feel just the same,
With every single fibre of my being.

You ask me,
Do I miss you?
Perhaps, I might sigh,
The very truth, though,
Is that I miss you terribly,
Is that part of me aches for you,
Though we are intrinsically entwined,
Sometimes, such closeness is not enough.

You ask me,
Do I love you?
Do you need to ask?
I live and breathe you,
As you live and breathe me,
Your roads lead to me, woman,
I am by your side, holding your hand,
One day, we will surely arrive together.

You ask me,
Do I miss you?
Everyday baby,
Never doubt it is so,
My pain is like your own,
Insomnia, numbing, yearning,
Hiding tears in the soft darkness,
But knowing, we will be free, one day.

©Paul M Chafer 2015

If I don't have to answer a text
I won't look at it
That way,
My phone continues to tell me
That I have a message
And I feel a little less alone,
Like someone actually
Wants to talk to me

I count my notebooks
Every morning
Before school
Even if I haven't touched them all night
Just to be extra sure

I smile when I'm sad
Just to look happy
For everyone out there
Even when the best thing
To do
Would be to cry my eyes out

I have a lot
Of silly habits

The cold snow
fell upon the memories
and whited out the pain

The hungry wolf looks out
across the frozen tundra
and forgets his pain

Dreaming of a warm
summer rain
only to go out
and **** again

Knowing inside
is trapped
the lamb
in wolf clothing

Do you even bother
To look for the signs?

I play my music louder
These days
I don't listen
For joy
But to drown
The world out

I'm never without long sleeves
These days
I don't wear them
For warmth
But to protect
My secrets

I feel ill more often
These days
I don't feel sick
Because of a physical illness
But a
Mental one

There are thousands of signs
That I am dying
Yet you never notice
Do you even bother to look?

Hi,
I'm Nicole
I'm still young
Only
16 going on 60

I've seen so much
I can never go back
I got more regrets piled up
Than stars in the sky

I've been told
My eyes look older than my body

And
My soul seems older than my age

That's because
I'm just
16 going on 60