I am offering this poem to you,

For I know your need for comfort.

My dear, let this poem be like your pillow,

The pillow that comforts you when those tears are shed;

Or like a warm blanket,

A warm blanket that embraced you in its arms.

For you are important,

Important like those gems that decorate rings.

In this cruel world,

You stand there shining like a bright star.

I love you.

Gentleness become my strength,

As you taught me how to love.

Sadness become unfamiliar,

As you taught me comfort.

Boredom become strange,

As you taught me laughter.

My dear, you are special,

More than any gems could be.

My dear, you are like the soil,

Neutering my dry roots.

I love you.

I want to offer you gifts,

Gifts that lead you spring free from thoughts and doubts.

I want to offer things that let you grow in life,

Like the first flower to bloom in the spring.

I want you to achieve your dreams,

From past and present.

I want you to smile,

For those smiles will protect you like armor.

I love you.

You are like colors,

That filled this empty void like space.

You are like light,

Guiding through the dark night.

You are like glasses,

Changing the perspective of my sight.

My dear,

You are the sun that gives me warmth.

The world is cruel, but not my world,

For you are in it.

I love you.

I teach them,

I watch as they grow their stems,

I watch them bloom,

I watch as they hold their seeds.

As they were dancing I fail to watch; my time runs out,

Then my stem rots,

And I leave my last petal

To say goodbye. •

I lost your sight,

But I found myself back as I did.

I lost you,

But I found what freedom meant.

I lost you,

But I finished the puzzle of my broken heart back as I did.

I lost you,

But I found a way to make my petals flourish again.

I might have lost you,

But I got the spark of my eyes back again. •

The casket closed,
Her permanent cell.
She should be gone, never to be seen again,
But I see her everywhere.

I see her in the trees.
Each leaf is her as they dance in the wind.
Swaying to the breeze, I see her,
Dancing.

When I wake up, her face is looking at me
From the light pouring in through the window.
Her soft warmth is welcomed,
But it isn’t real.

The tears from the sky are her,
Falling down to drown us all.
I see her in the clouds dropping them,
A reminder that she’s trapped in her cell. •

(child)

Tink,
Tink,
Tink.
I heard it!
I think:
What could it be?
A friendly bat?
Or…
Maybe a not-so-smart birdie!
Tink,
Tink,
Tink.
It came again!
What a persistent birdie:
Maybe it’s a woodpecker,
Maybe it’s a huge bug.
Tink,
Tink,
Tink.
The tapper’s identity has endless options,
Maybe I’ll never know it! •

(middle school)

Tink,
Tink,
Tink.
I always hear it,
That weird knock at my window—
Maybe it’s just a branch,
Or somebody tapping the window.
It tormented me
Every. Single. Night.
Tink,
Tink,
Tink.
It had a grip on my brain.
What was out there?
Was it coming for me?
Sorting through my thoughts,
One came to mind:
Don’t look—
It’ll see you. •