(Cutting Trigger Warning!)

She studied the blade
That she held in her hand
While she braced for the pain
She’d learned to withstand

It shined like the snow
On a cold winter’s day
And bit into her skin
In the same bitter way

It fell like the rain
Plummeting from the sky
It drenched her in pain
As it pummeled her thigh

She watched through dry eyes
She was too numb to weep
But her skin cried in blood
As the slick blade cut deep

But after each raindrop
Her blade rose like the sun
Desperate for warmth
She didn’t care what she’d done

And once it was over
Sunburns littered her skin
But for a breath she could feel
Despite the frostbite within

A black cloud hangs over my head
Spanning an entire continent

My suffering was too much for them…
And it’s too much for me

My old friend's back,
Giving me the worst thought.
If I give in tonight,
And didn't look for the light.
Just know that I was happy,
At some point in my life.
It'll be over soon.
I'll fly higher than the moon.

Sometimes I feel like I'm being held underwater,
I open my mouth and scream for help,
I kick and push, desperate
to escape her clutch.

I want someone to help me,
I want someone to hear me
and pull me out of this
bottomless sea of sorrows.

She violently floods me,
I feel the water cascade through me.
I feel it crush me inside,
drowning me slowly.

I begin to realise that
no one will ever hear me,
when my head is this deep
under the sea.

Eventually I get tired.
I'm tired of the kicking
I'm tired of the screaming.
I am ready to succumb.

I close my eyes
and feel as my head finally goes silent.
I find comfort
at the bottom of the sea.

I feel her current
as she caresses me softly,
handling me with the utmost care.
I feel safe.

She wraps me in her warm embrace,
closing in on me,
suffocating me gently.
I inhale once more

finally free.

BY SIDRA ALRIFAI

Are roses red?
Are violets blue?
Is it true the Sun is chasing our Moon?
When he says goodbye,
does that mean see you soon?
When the wind blows, are the daisies still yellow?
And when you're confronted,
are you still mellow?
When you close your eyes at night
are you really sleeping tight?
Are your dreams filled with gold
or are they chasing you with fright?
They say at the end of the tunnel is a light
When you see, is it past your sight?