I wish now
That I had persisted
Wish that I had held on
But I gave up my dreams
For the sake of a phantom I couldn't see
Nor touch, nor hear, nor feel

But I succumbed
And I fell
Down to the depths of my own hell

I've come up again now
Have gathered the broken pieces of the days I wasted
And have pieced them into an amateur mosaic of dreams

And I know I'll hold on this time
Even if
For just a little longer.

The loneliness of life
Is a hard lesson learned
But once realised
Is one rarely forgot

No one makes it out alive
None of us have a second chance
So go all out in this amusement park
Ride your rides as long as your ticket lasts

Mila had her life set
She knew it all
The exact amount of calories she required
The exact amount of sleep she needed
She even knew when to smile
Even knew when to help
And when to shrug off the matter and walk away
Knew why and how she did what she did
Knew how much love she needed to give
Gave up offers of promotions for those she believed were better
Let others take the rein, never flinched when they blamed her

But she was alone
No friends to keep her company
No family who considered her as their own
No lover to beckon her homewards
She lived in a house,not a home
For people hated her
As they failed to find her faults
And then hated her even more
Cause she was so kind to them all

All of this Mila knew
It was to her another challenge
That she was ready to overcome
But how can one improve perfection?

Just another one of those made-up facades
That I hid in the woods
For the milkman to find out
And parade it
For the people to believe

When the perfume you smell is familiar
But not the face.

They named her Patience
Hoping she would put up
With the unflinching burden of hatred
Hoped she would stand through it all
To emerge out into the boundless open
A space with no history
No prejudices

So she took up her pen
Held it so high that it caught the sunlight
She raised her voice
So that it broke through the walls of prejudice
And with threads of intellect wove her thoughts into order
She was Patience
But she did not intend to wait
For a saviour

This morning when I woke up
It was raining
Softly pouring from a gloomy grey sky
My cat came home soaking wet
She had had a bad time.
I closed my eyes hoping the sun would shine
Break through the curtain and bring a hint of warmth
But when I opened my eyes, my cat was gone
It was only me and the rain, the rain and I.

You can take your time
Laugh out loud
Cry your heart out

You can do it
Here
No-one minds

We're all the same here

I was twelve
Twelve when I saw my parents fall out of love
Twelve when I was told that my face looked better from afar
Twelve when I was taught that being a feminist was silly
Twelve when I heard that I wasn't meant to cry aloud
Twelve when I felt that it was time I died
Twelve when I decided to cut open my wrist

And then I started to write
It is now on pages that I bleed

Lonely strangers
Sit together in a pub
Knees brushing
Hearts gone numb
They sit and think of the overcast sky
Seek to lose themselves in an ephemeral high.

Lonely strangers
Wait together for the bus
Sharing umbrellas
Separated in a rush
They fall in love in the most unfortunate of times
Prisoners they are, of their own, fickle device.

The both of us together
Me and you
You and I
We keep waiting for our friend to come
To bid him a final goodbye

We've been waiting for a while now
This friend is yet to arrive
And I sometimes think I've forgotten
How he sounded and looked like.

Forgotten if he ever asked of us
To wait for him in silence
But why then do we keep waiting
On life's little bylane?

So long as we exist
We will question,

What is freedom?
What is justice?
What is misery?

So long as we remain human
We will want to know

What is life?
What is love?
What is death?

Years will pass
Crowns will fall
Thrones will rise
We'll dance in hell or rise to heaven

And we'll still ask
Why?
Why?

Why?

Could not bring my thoughts
To a common outlet
The mesh of spring
Allows your blood-red flowers
To peek through

I could not help but
Smile
At the soft delicate petals
Which would little by little
Rot away into nothingness

For they were lovely
Oh! So very lovely!

When destiny scorns the road you take
Walk straight ahead