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.
Zahia and Ahmad are best friends.
They like to play Roblox.
Zahia sometimes annoys Ahmad
And it is very funny.
BFFs forever!
The house is quiet, the lights are low,
A gentle hush falls with the snow.
Stockings are hung, a colorful pair,
Waiting for Santa, beyond compare.
The Christmas tree, with tinsel bright,
Sparkles and twinkles in the soft night.
Cookies and milk, a special treat,
For reindeer’s journey, oh so sweet.
With sleepy eyes and dreams so grand,
Of presents waiting, close at hand.
We’re tucked in bed, but listen near,
For sleigh bells jingling, “Ho, Ho, Ho,” and cheer!
No matter if I’m skinny
No matter if I’m pretty
No matter if I’m athletic
I look
I look at my reflection
Anytime I can
And, oh man
all the flaws I see
Why can’t my eyes let me be?
Judging every curve, dip, bump, spot, flake
from top to bottom
I wish I could shake
This feeling
This disgust
This hate
Of my body
I could spend money
to change
But my eyes won’t change
They’ll always find a way
no matter what people say
to make me feel
insecure
about my body
I’m tired of acting strong,
My soul hurts,
My heart is lost,
My mind is gone
I’ve lost myself.
My shadow drags heavier than my body,
as if Earth knows itself,
I don’t belong.
The silence is pounding in my head,
walls closing in.
Every breath feels borrowed,
like air was never meant for me.
Would absence be louder than my voice?
If my chair was empty?
My fake laugh was missing?
The little things that made me?
Gone.
Disappeared Forever.
As I sit here,
My body mixed with sand and the sea,
How I wish I could see
The liquid sunset in your eyes
To see the corner of your eyes crinkle when you smile,
To see your hair dancing in this breeze,
To hear your voice through these waves
Oh my love,
Come back and find me,
Drenched under this pale moonlight,
Before I dissolve
Into the emptiness before me
Find me before
The sea tastes like you and me