Teenage

Blue

The loud waves hitting the rocks

Loud gusts of wind

The summery smell of salt

My hair blowing in my face

What is blue?

Somewhere over the rainbow
Are video games
Yet under the ground is my school in Africa
Please send help!

In a sky dressed in silvered gray,
I could only see darkness my way.
But then it came, a spark so bright
Which fixed my world, made it right.
We were like sisters, we could do anything
But then she came, becoming her everything.
In days, she swept away,
Leaving darkness, once again my way
It hurt to see her smile so bright,
While knowing I could never provide her the light.

Hello rain
Goodbye beach days
Hello umbrellas
Goodbye ice blocks
Hello layered clothing
Goodbye bathers
Hello blankets
Goodbye sunscreen
Hello cloudy days
Oh, won’t you please return!?

Hello holidays

goodbye school

Hello Christmas

goodbye Halloween

Hello backyard cricket and football

goodbye sitting on devices all day

Hello pools

goodbye Rainy days

Hello excitement

This summer will be great fun.

Hello school

Goodbye free time

Hello maths

Goodbye camping

Hello friends

Goodbye games

Hello PE

Goodbye sitting in my room doing nothing

Hello school

We are glad to have you back

Hello, goodbye
Hello healthy food
Goodbye junk
Hello crunchy celery
Goodbye drive through
Hello food that grows in the ground
Goodbye processed factory food
Hello wellbeing
Goodbye bloating, sludgey mind
Hello healthy goodbye junk
I will miss you

In the corner of a silent room,
Where moonlight spills its silver bloom,
A spider weaves with tender grace,
A mother’s love in every trace.

Her web –  a cradle, soft yet strong,
She hums her heart in silent song,
Each silken thread, a whispered prayer,
For little lives that flutter there.

She waits through nights, so cold and deep,
While tiny dreams beside her sleep,
Her fragile legs, though worn with care,
Still hold the world She chose to bear.

The dawn will come, her babies will go,
Across the wind, the world, the woe–
Yet not a tear will stain her face,
Just empty strands and quite space.

For love is not in what we keep,
But what we guard, then let go free,
And in the web, so faint, so small,
A mother’s heart outshines them all.

Do they know that my eyes are often like faulty drainpipes – they leak.

Do they know that I can’t withstand shouting from my family?

Do they know that I’m sensitive, and vulnerable to critique?

And do they know that beyond my WhatsApp status, there’s more to me?

Do they see behind the smiles, the laughter, the mirth

Or do they dismiss my fears, and deepest anxieties?

Do they see that every night, I question my self-worth

Or do they believe that I’m just some wannabe, not conforming to their proprieties?

Do they know that it’s no simple feat, dealing with the weight of eyes unseen?

Or that hiding myself – masking – is arduous to the extreme

Perhaps they admire the determination for me to reach my dream,

Or scorn that I’m begging the other side of me to be seen?

Do they?

No.

They do not.

They do not realise that there’s daggers behind the syllables they speak,

That I crumble, every time I hear the words of their weaponized vocabulary.

They do not realise that I’ve never been, as they define, ‘happy’.

Because…

I never have.

Please remove your
thunder brow,
black despatched glares,
and how
annoying I am
is understood
by both of us.
Why the fuss?