You ask me to prove the love I feel.
I cannot prove to you the love I feel
If you do not feel it on your own.
I can show you lust through kisses and soft touch,
As I can show attention through remembering little things.
I can show care through holding your hand as you heal and
Support as I wipe your slippery tears from your marble cheeks.
I can show many things that are mistaken as love
But that does not guarantee the everlasting sentiment,
The one that is given in its true definition, at least in my opinion.
Especially since it is my love you ask for,
I simply cannot prove to you the love I feel
For if there was real connection, the message would get through
Since the network of my love is connected like our souls,
Through invisible heart strings from the heart of our love
That relays the affection, an impact that cannot be missed.
If it was there, you couldn’t miss it.
So now I ask, is my love coming through?

Close your eyes, b r e a t h e, make a wish, and blow--
release the seeds of your dreams and let them g r o w
wild, like weeds... unappreciated by those who
don't understand them but resilient and persistent
for those who know how to handle them.

I have asked myself a million times a day
How an eighth of my life took so much away...
We met when I was twenty-one,
Drinking, partying, having fun.
Wild hearts, crazy dreams, living for the moment;
From that drunk first kiss, my steel-made walls were bent.
I never partied much,  but I thanked God I did that night;
From silly dates, inside jokes, that spark in our heated fights,
Our feelings stayed strong, in tact, when push came to shove
And from that sober first time, we soon called it love;
Movie nights in our dorms, summers spent missing each other,
Sleepovers, phone calls, and the first time you met my mother;
Wishing in wells, eleven-eleven, shooting stars;
Graduation day, no one thought we'd make it that far.
Working doubles, living cheap,
We soon took that big old leap;
Rented an apartment in the city, internships at hand;
Didn't have much but I had all I needed in all the land.
Partners in crime, sidekicks in love is how it had always been;
They thought we'd marry; who would've known we'd prove them wrong again....
An eighth of my life was all, for sure;
Three out of twenty-four years, you were
Yet all those years of childhood mean nothing--
We talked of our future children--does that still mean something?
Remembering the past, I don't ever want to start anew...
Yet here we are, maybe a million miles apart;
I can't hold back tears, I still have you close in heart.
But perhaps we've moved closer to the truth:
An eighth of my life is over for good.

And, as much as I'll try, a part of me will always love you--
That eighth of my shattered--mending--heart that will always stay true.

How does one gain the experience they require
Without being given the chance to acquire such?
Why do we live in the shadows of our parents
As the opportunities they gave us, little or much
Give us the only experience we need to gain
Permission to earn the chance of real experience,
The type that actually matters to others?
For when I was caught in the ignorance of my innocence
No one told me to volunteer, do sports, oh no—
It was all grades, grades, grades, which I performed
But then as for this "experience", I’ve got nothing to show.
My parents thought they were loving me dearly,
Sheltering me from the outside world of salaries longer,
Not seeing that no one cares I wasn’t allowed to work
So young, but that my resume ought to be stronger.
I pursue to be sweet, polite, studious, hard working,
As I try to be sensible and ambitious in all I do
But in this paper competition, it is not conveyed
For I have no dates or references to give as clues.

Love is tender, love is kind;
Love is splendid and divine;
Love is raw yet very sweet
Save it’s with a dead beat.

You’re not from fairytales—
No, you set your own sails.
While I work to pay the bills,
That is just how cupid kills.

I’m madly in love, I swear
Caught up in this love affair—
I don’t care if it’s no good for me
Just one will make it work, you’ll see.

You make my heart go crazy,
So who cares if you’re lazy?
We’ll prove the world wrong, I bet;
On that I have my heart set.

Love is hopeless, love is blind;
Love makes victims lose their mind;
Love wins, to one’s defeat
When it’s with a dead beat.

Envy, like ivy, itches
But its rash is green, not red
And the victims affected
Are those who caused it instead.
Jealousy, like fire, burns
But its blaze is cold, not hot
And the flames spread
Inward in the heart it caught.
Resentment, spite
And bitter greed are bred
Within the veins of the
Jade blood that’s bled.
The ice cold heart plays
Tricks on its clueless host.
Jaded is the one who
Started off caring most.
No one likes a needy fool—
It’s envy’s tragic curse.
A loving angel shall be
Turned into their very worst.

Isn’t it funny how things change?
The monster I am today,
Was once the loving friend
You simply turned away.
I admit I am no saint, but I was
No sinner to you, ever.
I just couldn’t stand it when
You thought you found better.
How was I to know you
Couldn’t see that I was hurt?
I hope even now you’ll think
Back on how I at least came first.
I’m not sorry, and I don’t think
I ever could be
For you closed your eyes
And let envy take me.
The monster I am today,
Look into my eyes,
You created this person
You so fervently despise.

Why is it that the one who loves you most
Is always the one who can hurt you best?
You heal me like no other, yet inflict wounds
So deep, they don’t compare to the rest.
Your electric touch shocks me back to life
While your magnetic kiss draws me in.
The power rushes through my blood;
I’m an addict to your sweet medicine.
In exchange for my forgiveness, come
On and take me over, for I surrender
To my desire; I need your love more than
I care to have shared you once with her.