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Old woman,
you shuffle past the bus stop,
coat dragging like the years you’ve worn,
eyes clouded,
face soft like pages turned a thousand times
and almost forgotten.

You walk like you’ve been walking
your whole life,
through the noise,
through the quiet,
through the people who left
and the ones who never came.

And me?

I just sit here.
Watching.
Like a ghost who hasn’t even died yet.

Because I don’t think I’ll make it there.
To where you are.
To where your bones ache but
your breath still rises.
To where your silence means survival.

I don’t think I’ll ever grow old.
Not like you.
Not like anyone.

They say ”you’re young, you’ve got time,”
but time feels like a hallway I can’t find the end of.
Like a clock with no hands,
ticking in a room no one else hears.

My days are…
blurry.

Tight in the chest.
Heavy in the head.
Like I’m dragging a life behind me
that I never asked for.
Like I’m underwater
but smiling at everyone above the surface
so they won’t ask
if I’m drowning.

Old woman,
how did you do it?
How did you live long enough
to forget some of the pain?
To bury people,
and still get up to buy bread
and feed birds
and water plants that will outlive you?

I can’t even imagine next week.
Let alone
next decade.
Let alone
wrinkles and soft sweaters
and stories that begin with
”When I was your age..”

I’m scared that I won’t get that far.
And part of me doesn’t care.

Is that awful?

Some days I hope I disappear quietly.
Without the drama.
Without the note.
Just.. a light going out
that no one noticed was flickering.

But you,
you’re still here.
And I don’t know if that’s strength
or just what happens
when you forget how to quit.

Old woman,
you’re not my grandmother.
You’re not anyone I know.
But watching you
makes me ache
for a future I don’t believe belongs to me.

I don’t want pity.
I don’t want advice.
I want to feel something that tells me
I might still be becoming
instead of slowly unraveling.

So I sit here.
And I watch you.
And for a moment,
just a moment
I imagine
that maybe
somehow
I’ll last long enough
to forget how much this hurts.

That maybe one day,
someone will watch me,
and wonder how I made it.
23:20pm / Took a walk today and heard a busker singing Old Man by Neil Young. I watched people pass by, and a poem quietly found me
Veera 6d
It
Strands of wind go over a city,
Blowing out tender light in the sky.
Through the streets, down the road to the center,
It comes dressed in a decayed facade.
A murmuration of starlings keeps changing,
Notwithstanding the wall clouds around.
With no omen outside of the collapsing mansion,
In the dark, it is cornered yet smiled.

Forming a shape in the air, on the windows,
Drumming as if it wants to break in.
And it murmurs sweet words you won't listen,
Since you've locked yourself deep and within.
Shallow eyes are alive, out for answers;
Nails break tissues, revealing the red.
For a decade, a line hasn't been crossed
But it walked over soon when the warning was made.

Now it wears the nice clothes, and it fakes it so well,
Keeping in what is broken, wallowing with no shame.
And the world doesn't notice, the sky is now clear.
You are staying in the corner, so fragile and thin.
It came up with all answers; didn't want to break in.
It is wearing a suit you sewed to fit in.
It might not look so pretty; alas people do not care.
They don't tell empty words from the hell that is there.

It speaks loudly, as sane, without a shadow of doubt.
And the voice that was sweet now has familiar sounds.
Birds are gone with the wind, there is one to blame.
You did not let it in yet allowed it to stay
And replace what was live with what had to be gone.
It is rotten inside; now your mouth's rotting, cold.
Your hands opt for a battle but are biding and glued.
It is seen by too many; you, forgotten and *******.

Picking rags from the floor, you come out of the room.
All of a sudden it is you covering light in the blue.
And you don't realize just how long it has been.
You've been searching for an exit you've robbed yourself of. Still,
You beat on the windows, again and again,
You are hoping to wake what is already dead.
Wasting wishes for a dream to end up somewhere else.
Coming back into clothes that just fit it too well.
06.12.24
Emery Feine Jun 17
she wore that dress for you tonight
she played that song for you
she had only you in her sight
she thought she had you

when the morning light woke her
she imagined it was you
when you gone and left her
she thought she had you

she wanted to put in the effort
she didn't know about you
kicked her in the mud, the dirt
while she thought she had you

and she finally believed for once
she believed in you
you must've not known that
she thought she had you
and she always ran away, expect when it came to you
Megan Jun 8
My head turns into a pile of ash
until your fingers flick me.
Smoke billows out—
curling in spirals toward the sky.

You light me up,
place me where you keep your lies—
between your lips,
sometimes held by teeth.

I burn slow for you,
but not fast enough
to chase away the pain
you’re trying to distract from.
Don’t blame me.
I was made to disappear.

Just like the things you tried
to hold onto,
but instead, cling onto me—
and I, too, eventually leave.

But parts of me linger.
A nicotine ghost on your tongue,
haunting your attempts to quit me.

I’m just a cigarette, though...
What do I know?
Keara Marie Jun 2
I hope the ghost of me haunts the silence you created.
I loved a ghost
stitched from soft words
and glances that meant nothing.
I touched a dream
and swore it had a pulse.
And now I grieve
not you-
but the person I thought you were.
Xnarf May 30
A primordial spark beckons consciousness to forge its way
Sensations so vivid breathing color into his gray
The spiral of change leading into ascendance of the prey
He welcomes this radiant spectrum of life to stay

Paths collide and intertwine
Follow and he swears to make you shine
Aiming for the peak where only gods dine
At grandeur’s frontier, shadows and doubts quietly align

Within his mind, a battle of virtue and vice, always in clash
Glimpses of what should be sheer happiness pass in a flash
Too occupied with the violence, the world offered him more than any hoard of cash
Help him find a way to let his weary mind refresh

It seems he wrote of this tale a hundred times before
No less expected of a man bruised at his core
He coaxes life for a dance once more
Haunted by his own ghost, he’ll never be alone on the dancefloor

Countless quests, yet the golden apple remains out of sight
Dwelling in the lust for that which brings naught but blight
He could be crowned in gold, raised to a dazzling height
He could be a rich man, if only he’d learn what is worth the fight
I haven’t written for so long,
I guess too many things are wrong.

There’s a voice telling me to quit,
and one repeating I’d hate myself if I did.

I’m a failure. I failed. Then I failed again,
It’s driving me crazy. I’m insane.

That exam, the mark I haven’t yet seen,
It doesn’t matter—I’m just fourteen.

IF I am a failure, and let everyone down,
My friends will still live in this town.

Kids on playgrounds will still laugh,
They won’t realise ALL of this is tough.

And I will still turn fifteen then sixteen,
No matter how I am being seen.

Perceived by the little girl in me,
By all the things I can never be.

I’ll still walk past mirrors and see the scars,
Still look at the sky in hope I find stars.

So I can be a failure and not give up,
And therefore I award myself a gold cup.

I can feel my sadness from within,
Because I never ever ever win.

That doesn’t mean I’m a failure tho,
I hope my thoughts don’t show.

I wear noise cancelling headphones,
Just to hear the voice in my bones.

But it isn’t real—This voice is a ghost,
It can’t tell me what I value most.

I used to hate ghosts—I was scared,
Is that why me and my ghost got paired?

Now could I have, my dear—
Become the thing you used to fear?
Accepting change and failure
My feet patter barefoot
Across the hardwood floor
As I set out crumbs for the ghosts
The doors, they squeak,
The floorboards creak,
And I hear them drawing close

When you patter barefoot
On the hardwood floor,
I'll come knocking at 12:03
There I’ll stand, a silhouette,
And wonder:
Will you set crumbs out for me?
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