Some people are like the ocean
When it comes to their place in your heart
They come and go so endlessly
But they always leave their mark

Sometimes you're like a sailboat
Drifting carelessly away
Into dangerous seas as you
Try and get them to stay

But it's better to be the sailboat
To try and never stop
Than to be reaching out but never moving
To be the stubborn dock

Because what defines bravery in love
Is the final effort that you make
Not staring boldly out to sea
While your loved ones drift away

In the place where I grew up
You can see how things wear out

How moss falls from the trees
How some still sways about
How rust has taken over
And turned
Metal into red

How wood has turned
From brown to gray
And cracks began to spread

In the place where I grew up
You can see
That time has surely passed

You can see that though
We’ve all grown up
Some things always last

The memories of our bare feet
Skipping
Down
The road

To Maw-Maw’s
Where we could smell
Hot gumbo on the stove

The sound of rusty chains
Swings swaying with
The wind

Voices drifting to and fro
Telling stories of where we’ve been

Purple flowers
That grow like weeds
At the start of every spring

I’d pick them all and put them
In my pockets as I’d sing

We left our marks on all of it
The road, the grass
The wood

But it seems as if
These old keepsakes
Have done us all some good

These materials and these places
These objects
Left to dust

Are full of all our memories
And have left their mark on us

The things my family built
Must have built us too

Because they’ve stayed strong
So long
After everything we’ve put them through

Things will wither
Away with time
Some things don’t last forever

But this family
Who built my home
Also put my heart
Together

So whatever comes and goes
I know
I’ll always return

To this place
Where I grew up
To this place
In which I learned

That family
Is the one thing
That doesn’t ever go away

So no matter where
I go
My heart is here
To stay

She tried
To blink away
The memory
Of the sun
Across her pages

As the wind
Made them dance
The words became
Ballerinas
On stages

She breathed
In the moment
Surrounded
By the pink
And blue

The soft feel
Of the grass
The scene
Mesmerizing
Through and through

It only
Took a second
To glance
Down
At her book

But she
Decided it was
Time
To give it one
Last look

To her dismay
She found
In awe
The trees standing
Alone

Before she
Could
Take it all in
The sun was
Too far gone

She wants to be
Alone
When the memories
Rise in waves

She wants to sit
In the sand
And watch them tumble
Without being saved

She wants to feel the warmth
Of her tears
As they grow closer
To the shore

And as the water
Reaches her toes
She wants to
Remember even more

She misses being
Able to
Feel every ounce
Of love

She wants to drown
In the happiness
Her heart is
Reminded of

She wants to become
A part of the place
Where the ocean meets
The sand

So her mind
Can come and go
As it pleases while her heart
Stays safe on land

Fifteen
You should be
Concerned with pimples
Braces maybe
Who to take to homecoming
What new shoes to get for school
This year
And not,
Not ever
At fifteen
Should you have to learn
That you should not take life
For granted
Because at any second
It can be taken away
And that friends can be
There one moment
Gone the next
Fifteen
Should not be
The last age you see
Fifteen
Should not be
The age you’ll forever
Be dreamed of as
Fifteen
Too young to know love but
Too childish not to be in it
Fifteen
Too young to have to cry
Over one too young to die
Too young to have to fly
On your own
Fifteen

If I were a bird
I would flutter far and wide
I would sing these words
Instead of write them
With nothing left to hide

If I were a bird
I think I’d look a lot like a book
Without binding
The pages would be my wings
With feathers slowly unwinding

If I were a bird
You’d never question what I see
For I’d swoop down and tell
my story
The wonders flying free

If I were a bird
I’d soar above the trees
But I’d land every so often
To rustle their brown and red leaves

If I were a bird
I’d paint for you pictures of
this world
But right now I’m simply a
wandering
Bound-to-this-earth girl

I hope to one day feel
Such freedom in my
Thoughts and words
And fly above the trees
As if I were a bird

The best type of love is mindless. You don’t have to wonder how the other person feels; you don’t have to question the way you feel. You simply
Feel
With every part of your being that you are right where you’re supposed to
Be.
They say it’s effort, double effort that keeps a relationship strong. But to me, it should all be easy, never forced.
“Effort” should be
Effortless.
It should be effortless in that you cannot control the beating of your heart when your love is near. It should be effortless in that you cannot help but stare or smile or see the future flash before your eyes. The words “I love you”
Should slip
Right off
Your tongue
As if you had no choice but to say them or stop breathing
Entirely.
Love someone mindlessly. Take in those moments in which you are overcome with tranquility,
Contentment.
The simple feeling of being right next to the right one.
Mindless
Effortless
Simple
Unconditional
A love as habitual as breathing