Optimism can be,
Very much fulfilling, or,
Exhaustingly bland.

Pessimism makes a,
Darkened cloud cover up the,
Shining, blinding Sun.

Cynicism blurs the,
Line between friend or foe 'cause,
Everyone’s corrupt.

Altruism means that,
I should help others without,
Pondering the cost.

In sunshine's glow,
we wear a smile,  
yet deep inside,
we feel the trial.
The weight of hope
can feel so grand,  
but woes can linger,
close at hand.
With every cheer,
loiters niggling doubt,  
can happiness withstand
what life is about?
To be the light,
yet fear the strain,  
When the bright facade
can crack and fray.
Beneath the mask,
a heart may strain,  
for constant joy  
can feel like pain.  

©️Lizzie Bevis

It must be dark
out here in the cold penumbra,
where mile after mile
no one smiles,

dots and loops,
dots and loops,
a kind of blissful nullity,
beautiful and pointless,

wearing at the edges
it almost stings,
seclusion unraveling
at the underground in us all,

aubade aberrations abound,
challenging the orthodoxy
of the troublesome
morning road,

but should this near-life experience
hydroplane toward
another mineshaft, it helps to know
less is less, not more.

In the blink of an eye,
our life is gone.
We live the days,
pretending they don't run out.

Death promises us one thing.
It is a final justice.
We beg, and we ask,
and in the end, it delivers.

Fair or not fair,
there's equality in death.
To postpone or meet halfway,
the grave is patient.

to be the kind of person
who will glimpse
the cherry blossom tree
beautifully delicate
in its early bloom
fluttering the palest pink
against a fragile white
desperate against even
the gentlest of breeze
but only observe
the black and the white
of what the premature
might mean for later
commenting how soon
these branches will lose
their graceful lustre
no longer to inspire
those hopeful wanderers
only to appear barren
and lifeless once again

Death is not a predator.
It is what was before
and what is to come.
Life is but a disruption
of eternal nothingness.
The way that moment feels
is really up to you.
Don't let darkness take over!