Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
Yeah, I've moved around
for a whole while. Lost
a lot of myself, lost sight
of the goal, wasn't quite
sure what the goal could
even be about. "Something
this excruciating can't
be worth the pain", I thought.

And most of it wasn't, but
some of it meant everything,
sometimes longer and
sometimes just for
a pretty little while.
Wonderful people gave me
wonderful mementos. I
keep all of them, even
if the memory hurts.

And yeah, I lost a lot of furniture
and I lost a lot of instruments
and I lost a lot of friends
but I've never lost a gift.
Everybody's still out there
one way or the other and
they were kind enough to share
some part of themselves
with me. I'm thankful.

They're proof that we live and
they're proof that we love.
Even if some don't anymore and
even if we don't anymore.

I've let go of all of it.
But not of the presents
and not of the memories.
Thank you.
Encased in gold resin,
The world we create
Older than you or I could ever say
It knows better than me of sure pain
Demanding your beauty
Still shadow the shame
When I wrote you –
I wrote you a letter today
I was lost in the infinite stretch of your gaze
And I wonder if it ever entered your air
Ever tasted your tongue, ever tousled your hair
Were they were words you would treasure?
Words you would share?
Like a picture, I'm taken
Because I am still there
Encased in your resin,
In the grip of your glare
It is a moment remembered
And I am still there
i am on my bed, laying on my back
i am looking at the ceiling
i get a strange sensation
that i am not alone in the room

i have laid here on this bed
a million times before
but there is something different today
there is an eerie mist moving around

i see figures walking around in silence
some i know, some i don't
some from the present some from the past
they've all come to say goodbye

you see, i am dying
the next few moments will be my last
don't feel bad, i have no regrets
at least, i'd like to think i don't

the mysterious figures hover over me
they look at me with burning anger in their eyes
i do not know these figures
i do not know why they are angry at me

then i recognize one figure
he is a ghost from the past
he is the ghost of the book i never wrote
you see, i once wanted to be a writer

then i recognize another
he is the ghost of the orphanage
that i never built for the street kids
you see, i once wanted to help the poor

then i recognize yet another
he is the ghost of the racial equality
that i never fought for
you see, i once wanted to fight for justice

yet another ghost i recognize
this time, it’s the ghost of adventure
the adventures i never went on
you see, i once wanted to travel the world

then i see a familiar ghost
this is the ghost of all the missed opportunities
missed chances to help mankind
you see, i once wanted to be a humanitarian

ah, here is one i know well
it is the ghost of sobriety
something i didn't fight hard enough for
you see, once i dreamed of being a teetotaler

I see many more ghosts
now i recognize every single one of them
i find it hard to withstand their anger
they are angry because i never brought them to life

now i understand their anger
all my life i have neglected
my responsibility to give them life
so they must remain dead forever

the ghosts are getting ready to carry me away
one look in their eyes and i see
that it won't be to paradise
i am powerless to protest

heed this warning, you among the living
learn from my mistakes
do not waste your talents
make use of every opportunity

it is too late for me
but you still have time
never let a chance to help
others pass you by
Summer mornings, as I round out
the bend in the well-traversed road,
the new sun imposes itself
in the cloudy rearview mirror,
and, for a moment, I am blind,
the way ahead obscured by gnats
of light teasing my weary eyes
the yellow white of the desk lamp
I set atop the chest of drawers
and tilted at such an angle
that I glowed as I emoted
to a rapt crowd of stuffed creatures
enthralling tales penned in crayon
on snap fresh construction paper,
words I knew would only better
as I much too slowly matured
into my God-given talents,
for my life would not be wasted
swatting the blinding memories
every blasted summer morning
as I crawl across the bridge
to the work side of the river
Shawn Oen Apr 26
Autumn Blaze

We dug the hole one quiet fall,
The leaves around us red and small.
A sapling slight, with roots still bare,
We gave it space, we gave it care.

Autumn Blaze, its name be true,
A fire that someday might break through.
We watched it lean, then helped its stand,
As winds moved strongly across our land.

Now look—it towers, bold and wide,
Its branches stretching toward the sky.
While others stall or wither in place,
Ours climbed with calm and patient grace.

It wasn’t just the sun and rain,
But hands that worked through joy and strain.
Like marriage, like a love once bright,
It rose because we did it right.

But love’s not just what’s built and grown—
It’s what you keep, and nurture, and own.
And somewhere in the in-between,
We lost the roots once so serene.

The tree still thrives, tall as a prayer,
While silence lingers in the air.
And I can’t help but see the cost—
Of something strong that still was lost.

We could have trimmed, we could have healed,
We could’ve fought, we could’ve kneeled.
Like tending bark or guarding flame,
Love asks for more than just a name.

So now that tree, it holds my gaze—
A monument to better days.
To what can grow and still be gone—
A blaze that burned, and then moved on.

© 2025 Shawn Oen. All rights reserved
Shawn Oen Jul 9
The Hug That Never Happened

They sat in silence, inches apart,
Two aching chests, one broken heart.
A single word could bridge the gap,
But pride stood tall, a cruel mishap.

The morning light through curtains poured,
Like grace that neither one implored.
A touch, a glance, a soft “I’m sorry”—
Could’ve rewritten all the story.

She brushed her teeth, stared at the stream,
He watched the wall, lost in a dream.
Each waiting for the other’s cue,
To do what both just meant to do.

A hug—just that. No grand parade.
No speeches long, no debts repaid.
Just arms around and tempers softened,
The kind of peace they’d both forgotten.

But silence grew where love had been,
A slow erosion, paper-thin.
And lawyers came with suits and sighs,
To drain their banks and split the ties.

No scandal flared, no great affair,
Just missed connections, vacant stares.
The final line, a quiet shrug—
All for the lack of just one hug.

Now a year has passed, and so has he—
The boy who once sat on their knee.
He builds his walls with heavy care,
Afraid of love that won’t be there.

He flinches when voices start to rise,
He searches truth behind goodbyes.
He wonders why the warmest homes
Can turn to halls where no one roams.

His laughter, once so quick to bloom,
Now echoes softer in his room.
He says he’s fine, but in his eyes—
You see the cost of grown-up lies.

And they—the two who chose to part,
Now carry shards inside their heart.
Two separate lives that once were whole,
Now ghosted by a half-lived soul.

They fake their smiles, they learn to cope,
They grip at joy, they reach for hope.
But every quiet night reveals
A wound that time just never heals.

They’ll build new paths, they’ll find their way,
But something pure got lost that day.
For all the things they rose above—
They’ll never quite outrun that love.

Two people who will always ache,
For what they lost, and didn’t take.
And all because, when push had come,
They chose the cold and not the hug.

© 2025 Shawn Oen. All rights reserved
What's the point of healing if those who inspired change won't feel it?

I'm just supposed to be better for someone else?

Like moving a mountain to pave a path,
Connecting two cities at last
Just to keep walking on without even looking back?

But that's the way it goes
I suppose
And that is in fact the way that it goes
But you get to be better for yourself
Look at the useless life you’ve led,
Sleep the dying sleep—like the dead.
Restless nights on a thorn-infested bed,
What did you give the world, and what did you get?

What fate was sought, and what fate was set?
Harken the lies—how far it treads.
For this is hell, and from hell you’ve crept,
A shadow’s dance where sorrow’s kept.
A reckoning whispered in shadows—where past and future bleed into an endless night. A silent torment where the soul’s debts are counted in pain and regret.
Perchance God created this world
For you to bless its ground.
Perchance God, with the love He holds,
Believed that you must be bound.

So He stole all your love
And hid it far from view,
And now you walk the earth
Without feeling in truth.

Perchance He’s in endless doubt—
That one day, you’ll forget
What He did, and what He does—
Oh, it fills Him with regret.

So He fled within the stars,
And to work was He set—
To amend and put to right
Eons of secrets.

For from your love He shall create
Everything that ever flew—
Every red, wine-rich fruit.

And in His need to express His self-hate,
From all the silent tears you abate,
God channeled all His sorrow through—
Creating that beautiful, tender morning dew.
A soft imagining: that even divinity may carry regret—and that the world’s beauty may bloom from sorrow stolen in silence.
Lexi 4d
There were times where we felt right.

Most times, we were wrong.

This island was supposed to be a safe space—
Instead we didn’t feel we belonged.

Throughout our time together,

There’s been many sleepless nights.

There’s been many sad mornings,

And what seemed like endless fights.

Throughout our time together,

Sometimes we weren’t very nice.

Sometimes we hurt each other,

Sometimes we were cold as ice.

There are things I’m not proud of.

Things I used you to blame.
I wish you would understand me more—
Sometimes I feel it’s always the same.

Sometimes when I look at old pictures of you

And I stare into your eyes,

I worry you look brighter—

Is your happiness compromised?

Will I see that man again—

The one with eyes so sure?

Or what about the girl in my reflection—

Can we still heal her?

It makes me think about that night—

The one where flames burst.
I wonder, had they not,
Would we have reversed the curse?

I know now things have changed,

And the love between us grows.

But still, I sometimes worry
Deep roots may decompose.

As we continue to grow

Into these new chapters,

I want to show change.

I want us to be better.

I want us to stop the blame.

Can we mend the past

And move forward?

Can we rebuild as a team?

I want you in my life for good—

Not just now,

Not just for a dream.
Next page