Oh, Rizal, hear our plea
For in our country's reality
The corrupt grow more powerful
As the elders become boastful

Pinned down condescendingly
By others buzzing like bees
With this ignorance that doesn't die
We feel that we can only try

But we will fight even as we cry
Our voices put down, may it never be pried
Away from the truth, we are shied
Now await our pent-up battle cry

We will march along the over-trodden streets
Along with the sound of where our hearts beat
For justice and for fairness
We bear your wish with gladness

No one seems to understand
just how heavy this burden is to bear
what it takes to get out of bed
what it’s like to fight your own mind
to face these thoughts daily
and to somehow not give up
to keep fighting though you want to quit
to keep breathing when you wish you would stop
Imagine for a minute, each second is agony
each thought is worse than the last
imagine feeling so heavy
feeling so tired from fighting
just trying to be “normal”
tured of forcing a smile
and you’re told to stop thinking this way
as though you’re in control of this
as if medication is not keeping you afloat
as if this depression can just be turned off
no one understands this burden
longing to die, but dying to live
hoping for anything to pull you back above the surface
so that you don’t drown in the darkness
No one can understand this burden

This is where I stand.
Intrinsic beauty in each drop of tear
that splashes my eyes.
Pride in my unclad figure
like faith in a benign tumor
Behold the majesty of surrender
as I severe ties with a talking mind
that feeds on attention; evermore
Since I stand,free of giving.
Behold! I no longer am
the hands you can shake
or the lips you can kiss
My peers envy those tears
they cannot cry.

Tina RSH

Barriers rose as we prepared for the war
A battle of two minds, we'd been there before
Protecting our hearts, the walls became higher
Silently willing, someone call a cease fire

Words were so hollow, a battle of the wills
Loaded guns, taking shots for cheap thrills
Opposing minds in each corner of the room
A sense of dread at the impending doom


There were no winners, it's easy to say
Just two broken pieces that had to walk away.

My heart is on fire
It is like a battle zone
A war
But every time the war ends
Everything is broken
Set alight
I am shattered
Like glass that was dropped
But wasn’t picked up
My heart is a battle field
My heart is aflame