Hour ticking, 16 seconds I finally spoke, as we ended.

And I, traitor to my own heart,
gave you a whisper, in the shape of ur name
when I meant to hand you a sonnet.

An answer I thought translates the weight it holds
You thought “run” in your head
But language folds in on itself?

You,
half-memory, half-mirage, never fully in my grasp,
but always in the air I inhale like second thoughts.
My messy brain strangling words that could’ve been said like

You are the pauses between breaths when I don’t realize I’m holding mine.

That you exist,
In fingerprints on coffee mugs, everything just bright
In shared silence, In awkward unfinished punchline
we both start smiling before they’re even told.

I could have shaken my head a little, maybe then it’ll be simple and exhaled,

that you live in the parentheses of my distracted thoughts
it’s the pull that keeps me awake, never the subject,
But instead,
I stood at the edge of the sentence
I watched the moment turn dark
Now I am left with metaphors scratching the inside of my chest
a thousand ways to say “you”

you are not a sentence.
You are the margin I write toward.
You are the reason
Blank pages feel like confessions

How do I say

His presence rearranges the furniture, in the quiet rooms of my mind.
Suddenly, space is softer, It’s like you’ve always lived inside.
There is something about the way he listens
As if he’s mapping constellations from the pauses in my speech.
he read silence like a second language.

He makes stillness feel so full,
Like a museum after hours.
Like a church with the lights off.
Reverent. Intimate. Unnamed.

how I replay to his “good morning” texts, like they’re voice notes from the universe.
How he makes ordinary moments feels like Easter eggs in a movie, only we understand.
How his presence calms that anxious part of me, with him it’s never too much.


I gave you only your own reflection.
But I meant:
you are the ink I can’t keep still.
You are the reason blank pages, terrify me.
Not because I have nothing to write
but because I finally do.

By: Zoulaikha

Joy was a word known to man
Until darkness covered their whole land.
As I walk past their faces that smile,
I saw lies in tearful eyes.

I was made to love and lead in a path.
I was made to be heartbroken.
I knew the reason but found I’d been sent to treason,
So I stopped at last.

Anteros sent me, but Eros sent the arrow.

I was made to love
The kind of love you give but never get.
Anteros called, I never answered.
Now I will wander alone and voice a speech.

Pin on a board love, lesson gained
Snake-bit pain like love under glass, labeled but never touched
Whatever it takes to pass the test and go to another.
Find them as I stare in the shadows.

Poised tears leak on sweeping finger cheeks.
I’m waiting for love letters that never come
But I was wrong…
There it came a smile on my face once again.

“I found the one, you taught me love…”
So it goes.
I was right,
Waiting for letters that may come,
But not for me for the teacher they learned from.

Love at first sight
Never the sight, but the one that watches the scene.
I made my peace
For being your prayer.

To watch over, to block the darkness
Now known to man.
Change in sorrowed eyes to worry-less pleas.
I was made to love.

By: Zoulaikha

If strawberries had memories, they’d only dream of cookie crumbs.
If strawberries could tell stories, they’d weep until forever’s undone

What is a poet to do?
When you tell her love poetry out of the blue,
Not a bedtime story, you were a wish come true.
Screaming the Lord’s name echoed on call,
Cheeks flushed, bound to ache
Now, it’s only memory.

Close misty eyes in the middle of the night,
Your lips are locked into mine.
The aftertaste of watermelon lingers just right.
I pull away, smiling, but tears fall downside.
“I miss you more than I can put into words.”
I blink through the blur, but you’re gone.

Your friend’s car, a time capsule of us,
Etching our ghosts into metal and dust.
We stopped on the roadside, your head on my lap,
The night held its breath, so did I.
"What’s it like to hold your hand? To lock our lips one last time?"
Get up. Tell me it’s time.

It killed me endlessly.

August 10th our world in bloom,
Held me tight, told me it’s all right,
Time stood still, you kissed me through the night.
February 13th love’s quiet death, now Heather’s day, his hand in hers instead.
You walked away, stole my breath.
I sit heartbroken, waiting for the year to end
As my tears finally dry, October storm hits.
The 20th it’s our crime, a date I should celebrate
But my heart won’t move, it only rewinds.

She walks my happy ever after,
While I live a once upon a nightmare.

By: Zoulaikha

The creator designed earth as if its art
Humans thought they only have mind and heart
If the the slightest proportion was out of sight
The black hole explosion wouldn’t have lead scientists to fight

You know the lord loves beauty
But as they created what’s before me
I knew if your scent traveled to hell, the fire would cool
Eyes drawn to the desert making colors drool

I knew then.
If the devil laid his eyes on you he would feel the weight of his sins and repent.
Your lips hide mysteries I beg them to present
You keep thoughts running to “when?”

Lucifer was blind as the fear rushed
Lucifer the king was only made of fire
Only could see what has flushed
But the beauty before me

Will forever be mine

By: Zoulaikha