Cheryl Tan

Cheryl Tan Nov 2015

denial

through the woods
and shadowed trees
you run.

through the fear
and through the night
you run.

but darling,
denial is a funny thing.
you say you want to heal
but every cure
begins with the will
to know
to see

to feel.

- c.t.

you can't run forever.
you know that.
i know that.

#pain

Cheryl Tan Nov 2015

3-word poem

You loved us.

And that was all.

#love

Cheryl Tan Oct 2015

For Now

But darling you know it lies -
Scales and markings around;
Maybe one day it won't matter
As much as it does right now.
So chin up, heart on your sleeve;
For now, just
let go,
let God,
let live.

- c.t.

Cheryl Tan Oct 2015

The Turn of the Tide

At dawn I stood upon the shore
Of pirates' gold and sailors' bells;
The silent waves to me did call -
A tragic tale the ocean tells:

Her love set sail by light of moon
And adieu bade he goodbye in tears.
She promised love, and he, return,
Raising sails flown four thousand years.

Into the moon, her love sailed on,
Both trapped in the hour of part.
At dark descent her soul was torn
By visions of unbeating hearts.

A trimster lapsed, Hermia returned;
Her crew moored with strangled cries -
For in tempests' wrath their captain downed;
To quiet depths evermore confined.

Her shattered soul, anchored with grief,
Witheld by curse of lovers' cares,
Stood still on high rocks at dusk,
Plunging down into despair.

Remember the hour their hearts froze,
Gripped by fear of Love's own berth;
In watery graves their souls abide,
Bound by Love's eternal curse.

- c.t.

A piece I wrote two years back. :)
Always been fascinated by tales of sailors on the high seas: the stories they lived to tell, and those that in seas still do dwell.

#love #death #grief #ocean #sailor

Cheryl Tan Oct 2015

Paper Hearts

She wrote your name on her paper heart
Swore to hold you close
But you could not see fragility
Under blue skies, rain, or smoke
And just like that she tried to hide
The rip, the tear, the pain
Your gushing river tore her apart
Like papered artwork in the rain.

- c.t.

.

Cheryl Tan Sep 2015

Fireflies

She loved to play with fireflies,
For short their time was, here.
Who knew one day the firefly
Held dead would, memories smear?

For fireflies, their lives are short,
And yet the light they give
Is set in stone in children's dreams;
In hearts touched to believe.

And all you did, and all you said
Still rings true in our ears;
In hearts you touched, my tears you hold-
Tells the world that you were here.

For as stars shine brightest before death,
Some lights may burn too bright;
Too bright to last, too bright to stay:
Too bright a light away.

"And the hearts that I've touched will be the proof that I leave: I has here."
- I Was Here by Beyonce.

dearest s,
you still come back to me in flashes,
all too painful to endure
.
but still i'll hold to you and your memory
until we meet again like before
.

Cheryl Tan Jun 2015

Flow

I know you're sitting there now-
Close by, at his bedside;
In that white hospital room,
Watching the ebbing distance in his eyes.
He's in a state of drifting, floating,
Here one moment, gone another,
And sometimes you wonder where
He floats to in subconsious slumber.

And from months of running;
Chasing currents of flowing streams,
You heavy heart grows weary
Listening to his slowing heart beat.
You've been holding on so long,
But now you watch him slip away:
Like water out of your palm;
Like light at the dusk of day.

Of all of a father's love outpoured,
I pray you'll hold on to his memory,
As the arms of life's oceans pull him in:
Out of your arms, out of your reach.

-c.t.

For L.R.. I've been there before too - that place where the divide between life and death seems a mere veil, a mere threshold of a doorway. And I know the strength you must summon to go on when you've been left behind is immense, but hang on, because that's what he'd want of you too. Let your heart take time to heal, as the thief of Time, life, it steals.

#life #death #hope #strength #grief