Remember
the warm summer evenings
when we would stand
in front of the glowing street light
in the cul-de-sac
arms outstretched.
We would take the chalk
and trace the outline of our shadows.

There it was
she watched death across from her,
staring her in the face,
grinning evilly at her misery.
It knew the control it had over her.
It knew that no matter how hard she tried...
she couldn't defeat death.

The fear it instilled in her would always be there,
she could not escape its bony grasp.
It knew her one weakness.
It knew that no matter what,
she was trapped in this dark, icy place.

I would give anything to escape.
I would give anything to leap
into my dreams.
I want to sink into the deep.
I want to tear apart these seams.

One day my world will change shape,
and that is when I will know
I have finally made my escape.

There's no safety net,
There's no end.
I just keep falling.

Arms outstretched,
Reaching to grasp something palpable.
I just keep falling.

Like Alice falling down the rabbit hole,
It's dark.
It's confusing.
It's lonely.

I just keep falling.

Spring comes with passion;
fruits of love flourish fragrant
it's forbidden fruit.

A creek babbles blissfully in the distance,
I listen intently while a round cloud rolls by.
The forest is filled with much persistence,
For creeks babble while creatures sigh.
A choir of birds chirps cheerful candid tunes,
It's like music to the ears.
This is how one should spend their afternoons.
This is how one should spend their years.
I am at ease.
I am relaxed.

Going crazy
don't mind though
now and then
it's a bit refreshing
to LET GO
to FEEL FREE
to SHOUT
from the rooftops
I AM OKAY
I WILL BE OKAY
NO MATTER WHAT
I WILL BE SHOUTING
because that is all a person can
do.
To express myself.
I just want to LIVE my LIFE.
I don't want to stand by and just
merely EXIST.
It's time.
Are you ready?
I am.
Together we will live.

I can inhale
(everything)
I can breathe in
every smell
good and bad.
I can taste
every taste
good and bad.
I can see
every vision
good and bad.
I can feel
every touch
good and bad.
But all I want to
breathe
taste
see
and feel
is
You.

I do
want love.

It just doesn't want me.

If you want the sunshine,
then you must have the storm.
If you want to be mine,
then you must be the warm,
loving, laughing, hugging
one.

If you want a clear sky,
then you must have the haze.
If you want to know why,
then you must have that gaze,
the unending, always adoring
look.

If you want the rainbow,
then you must have the rain.
If you want to have that glow
then you must know the pain,
the tears, the sadness.
Then you will know the joy.
Then you will know the joy.

If you were the drug
then I’d be the addict,
constantly craving
that one more touch.

If you were the moon
then I’d be the tides,
continually changing
in response to you.

If you were the paintbrush
then I’d be the canvas,
ready and waiting
for your strokes to shape me.

If you were the wind
then I’d be the trees,
swaying in the direction
of your beautiful breeze.

If you were the sun
then I’d be alive,
with your warmth
surrounding and enveloping me.

But you're not
the drug
the moon
the paintbrush
the wind
the sun

You're so much more.

Drowning again
Swimming for the surface
but it just can't be reached.
When will I be free?
When can I finally
breathe?

I just want to give up.
So let me.
let me.

I love how
it is so easy
to fool people.

I love how
I can smile
and no one
can see.

I love how
the days can
pass
in a blur.

I love how
it feels like
I am always
standing still.

I love how
depression
makes me feel.

But really
I don't love it
at all.

I don't want anything fake
I don't want to mess around
I've been there, I've made that mistake
But why am I so scared...at the sound
of something real?

Life isn't so bad right now
I have my goals, I have my dreams
But I just don't know how...
Oh how my heart screams
for something real.

OK we've seen the storms
we've see the rain...
So what now?

This is my weakness.
This is my one desire.
I couldn't say this more or less,
You set my soul on fire.

Is it so wrong,
to want what you will never get?
I've waited so long,
perhaps our story is not yet writ.

One day I will hold your hand.
One day we will share a kiss.
I know this is not what I planned,
But I can't help that I already miss
what I never even knew.

I want *you.

Layers.
We are each made up of layers.
Peel each one away and
you will find
beneath skin
a weaving web
of entangled vessels and nerves.
And beneath that
you will find
sinew, muscle, and bone.
But what do you find
when you go beyond
each *****
each tissue
each cell
each atom.
A heart is not a person's heart.
A voice is not a person's voice
A mind is not a person's mind
What truly makes a person
whole?
The *soul.

This.
is life in one second.

Breathe light escape memories happiness sunshine free dance music crazy love sweet kiss beautiful heart time waiting afraid pain loneliness tears empty shadows weakness god death disappear whispers ripples flight colorful brighter blissful souls forever.

My soul thirsts for You
an unquenchable,
heart wrenching
thirst.
But how do I find You?
I follow the streams
all day and all night,
I sip the pristine water
until I feel I am about to burst.
Yet my soul still feels
this abundant and unquenchable thirst.
God, I just want to be with you.

As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living
God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
"Where is your God?"
(Psalm 42:1-3)

Smooth delicate inviting
Flowing fire in my veins
Sinful loving delightful
Harsh heroines at the reins

When I cross the border
It does not have to make cents
You could never afford her
While he lies and he paints and he stands by the fence

I love everything about this
Sweet sultry sun making me sweat
Warms my neck; giving a sharp kiss
So maybe it seems crazy, maybe we just met
But reading is something
You surely will not regret.

In every stolen
hidden
kiss
deep
in the shadows
Our
lips
do
secret
things.

Once upon a time in a land far away
Lived a King and his wife with their daughter May.
She had never been outside the castle of stone,
For quote her father, "You must await your throne."
May was curious, adventurous, and a risk-taker too.
So despite what her father said, she knew what she wanted to do.
Early one morning, while the sun hugged the sky, May sprang up and said,
"I must escape from this dreadful castle castle!" so then she fled.
May raced to the enchanted forest, where she could hide,
But while May was walking, she felt she was being eyed.
Suddenly, the wind whispered while the tree's lengthy fingers grasped for May,
She screamed but no one could hear her, for she was alone on this fateful day.

Rain descends on a stormy day,
water droplets trap a sun's ray
like small prisms catching the light
colorful rainbows occur as they might.
raindrops that are rapping
beating, dripping, tapping
as loud as the percussion of a band
tap to the rhythm with a hand.
stronger the tenacious storm grows,
lightning strikes as the dark sky glows.
It will be over very soon,
The night sky will appear with a silver crescent moon.

She looks in the mirror
What does she see?
An image that couldn't be any clearer
But to her there is no "me."

She does her best
to wash the image clean
of this unwanted guest,
to scrub away the wholly unseen.

She wipes away the dirt from her face
and finally she can see
the person she wants to be
the person she no longer has to chase.

Speaking
in poetry
is like
speaking
in another language.
I have the words
But these words
aren't easily or simply
spoken.
These words
describe everything
I am feeling
without actually
saying exactly what it is.
These words
have a rhythm
I fall into and
I fall asleep in
the bed of these words.
They are mine
and I love them
because of this.

Sunlight reflects off of the water, clear as glass
A leaf slowly descends and the ripples move away.
When summer stars and bright bugs emerge I lay on grass,
life curls around me, around my fingers it will stay...
for now.

In the blistering boiling scalding steaming heat,
Everything is so slow...I feel only half-alive.
but this summer sweat has never tasted so sweet,
into this season, without looking back, I dive.

(There is something so exhilarating
about) being at the edge
so close you can taste
(the freedom).                              

You stand there
waiting, looking, wishing
you could jump
but you just don't have the guts.

Everyone believes that the best part
of a story is the jump,
but it's not.

(It's that) moment right before,
when you are swaying
between reality and (dream.)

The thunder is my friend,
he conceals me with his echo.

The lightning is my brother,
he protects me and strikes down my enemies.

The rain is my sister,
she washes away every bad memory I carry with me.

I can hide from myself with the elements of nature,
but I cannot hide from the wind.
She knows my every move.
She knows my every secret.

The wind carries my doubts away,
and with her reassuring whisper,
I know I'm here to stay.

Do you ever feel like
God is holding an ocean in his hand
deep and blue,
all of us inside it.
We get tossed around when the storms come,
separated and lost.
So suddenly it feels hopeless,
as if we'll never find each other again.
Then we sink deeper and deeper...
but we don't drown.
Somehow we don't drown.
Something holds us back
and keeps us above the surface.
Gently we rise up into the glittering sky
and realize that when He turns it upside down
it was where we were all along.

The star player has lots of friends,
He stands in the center of the field
surrounded by all of the other players,
and everyone is cheering for him
when he makes a goal.

He has never known what it is like
to be on the sidelines.

The player on the sidelines,
watches from afar.
When the player on the sidelines
works hard to please everyone,
no one cheers for him.

Now the player on the sidelines
does not feel that the star player
has an obligation
to let him join in the main game.

He just wishes that the star player
knew what it felt like...
to be on the sidelines.

Stars are falling
On your head,
In my bed.
Stars are falling all around
On the ground,
Though they don't make a sound.
Stars are falling everywhere,
In your hair,
I can't help but stare.
Stars are falling
From the night sky,
I can't help but sigh.

I felt
the strings
pulling me
to each
and every
human soul.

We were
connected
in one
unbreakable
web.

No longer
fragile
and
weak.

I felt each
and every
thought
emotion
ambition.

We were
no longer
separated.

Our strings
came together
and we were
one.

I love it when
the wind blows.
My invisible friend
that no one else knows.

I love it when
it roars in my ears
and tickles my face
I love it when it picks up my hair
and moves it out of place.

I love it when it's so strong
and it whispers secrets to me.
The wind is where I belong...
I am the lock, and it is the key.

I feel as if it could pick me up
and take me away
I could just close my eyes
and pray
that the wind will
hold me.

They say
if you do not act normal,
then you are crazy.

They say
if you act differently,
if you think differently,
if you talk differently,
than others...
something is wrong with you.

We feel as if we should act
a certain way every day
when we wake up.

Yet we have the freedom
to act any way we want.

If I go around yelling
anything I want
they'll take me away
and diagnose my wrongness.

Then if I begin
speaking the way they want me to,
acting the way they want me to,
they will say,
"Oh so you were just pretending to be crazy?"
And I'll reply,
"Pretending?"

"I was just being free."

Happiness seems far away
and out of reach
and sometimes
it's easier to convey
our miseries,
our sadness,
our loneliness.

But how can we convey
our blissful and
unadulterated
joy,
happiness,
radiance?

After the tears comes the triumph.

And it is beautiful.
And though it only
comes along once in a while,
I will sing.
I will dance.
I will rejoice.

I said,
"I will let You take control,
I will have faith in You,
I will trust that You
will lead me to
where I need to be."

We stood together on the hill
We saw where You died for us
You washed away our sins, our guilt.
The pain and agony You went through
for me is indescribable,
and what I go through could never measure
up to it...

Because I have You,
there is no pain.
there is no agony.

This is love.

My eyes squint as I peer in the distance
why must you leave me every evening?
why must you disappear from my sight?
I wish never to be parted from you.

You do not have to leave me;
You do not have to go.
And your light shining upon me
will forever make my face glow.

Let us become one
and we will dance under the midnight sun.

I just wait.
All I have to do is wait,
Then maybe I will get the answers
that will be written on my slate.

What am I supposed to do?
Where am I supposed to go?
I wish I knew.
Time goes by so slow
and I have not the patience
to let myself grow.

I cannot see into the future.
I do not know what it will be.
I am suspended on the finest, thinnest
thread.
What I do know
is that I just
have to keep going
and I just have to keep
waiting.

You asked me to dance,
I placed my hand in yours,
(and we danced).

I watched us dance all around,
I spun
as sunlight poured into the room,
(and we danced).

We laughed,
and we just kept dancing.

What if I get lost?
What if I can't find my way?
Will I feel guilty from the cost,
will I feel sad that I didn't stay?

I always thought that you'd be there
to hold my hand
whenever I felt lonely, whenever I felt scared
but I guess I had to learn on my own
that not everything goes as planned...


"But what if I get lost?"
I asked mother.
"Just hold my hand," she replied.
I held as tightly as I could,
as we made our way through the crowd.
Faces drifted by in a blur.
We were pushed and pulled
by bodies squeezing by us.

I could feel as our hands
began to slide apart.
I reached my small fingers towards hers,
but they were already gone.

Who is she?
Who is that girl
that stands in the corner,
a wallflower.
A glimmer
in the fabric
of time and space.
She is nothing
but emptiness
in this place.
She turns up
the music
louder and louder.
Throbbing, moving
beats.
Hoping that somehow
the music, the song, the words
will fill the empty spaces
of her heart.
Maybe she will feel less alone.
Maybe.
Possibly.
Probably.
Probably not.

Why are you so afraid, girl?
What are you afraid of?

The leaves are still.
The sun is shining.

Her watch keeps ticking,
every second passes her by.

The notes keep their trill,
as they reach higher and higher.

What are you so afraid of, girl?
Get moving.

I** am always searching and I
wish I could find what I was looking for.
I am always daydreaming and I
knew what I always wanted to do.

how do I even begin
to write with eloquence and
say what moves your heart in
the most beautiful way possible?

words just do not appear.

I am in love
with everything about you
You are perfect
to me.
I always come back to you
no matter what.
I am joyous
when I can find you.
I am always wishing
that I could find a way
to be with you
but it is not so easy.
So many times I feel that
I am not good enough
I will never be good enough
but then I realize
with you
I just have to be
me.

You are my all,
You pick me up when I fall.
You are my everything,
You make the stars shine brighter at night.
You bring me back into the light.
You make me want to sing.
You make me want to dance,
You even give me a second chance.

When I didn't think the world could get any more beautiful,
You bring sunshine on a cloudy day
and the light warms my face.

*I trust in your unfailing love
my heart rejoices in your salvation;
I will sing to the Lord,
for he has been good to me.
(Psalm 13:5-6)