I keep checking 
the places happiness once sat, 

like a pocket 
I’ve already turned inside out. 

The bench is still there. 
The streetlight still hums. 
The ocean still returns.  
Everything except what I long for. 

So I stop looking back. 

Because happiness never waits 
where it was broken. 
It only lives 
in the direction 
you finally face. 

There is a boy 

And there is a girl. 

Their love for each other 

Is so vast 

They would walk 

To the ends of the Earth 

For each other. 

But no matter how far they go,  

How hard they try, 

How much they love each other, 

They are destined to be apart. 

There is a boy 

And there is a girl. 

The boy reaches for the girl 

But the girl disappears, 

And the boy is left sitting alone. 

The girl sends letters to the boy 

But he never gets them. 

Not a single one. 

The boy calls out her name, 

But she never turns around, 

And disappears when he gets too close. 

The girl runs after the boy 

But every time, 

He runs faster. 

There is a boy 

And there is a girl. 

Wanting each other so badly 

That they start to see illusions. 

They start to f

                        a

                            l

                                l

They start to c ru m ble 

The illusions 

Are the only things 

Keeping them together.

We live in this world together.                                                                                       Sharing and living with each other.

We are connected by life, by blood.                                                                                Trying to escape our flood.

The lies and stories we are told,                                                                                     and the hatred and violence grow old.

Our world so stable before our feet,                                                                             grows darker and darker before we speak.

The land we loved is fading away,                                                                              destroyed by the hands of our protectors.

As we watch feeling helpless, lost,                                                                                  A spark of hope still lingers.

Will we fight?                                                                                                                     That is up to you.

I am but 

One speck in the Universe, 

One piece of the world, 

One person amidst a billion. 

I am just 

Another person you will meet, 

Another person you will forget, 

Another person who lives on this planet. 

I live in the same world you do,

But you might never meet me.

I breathe the same air you breathe,

But you might not know me.

I am another stranger,

But I might not be soon.

I am just

A person.

But I am worth knowing.

We lie inches apart, 
faces turned from one another, 
like two commas in the same sentence 
that never connect. 

Your back faces mine, 
like a locked screen 
close enough to touch, 
impossible to enter. 

Between our shoulders
sits a small, silent country,
made of everything
we don’t say.

I am 15, that's young. 

I have just started high school and am experiencing a lot of firsts right now. 

Yet at the same time some days feel weird. 

I wake up and have this huge perspective on the world as a whole and what is going on. Like my view of the world zoomed way out of where I am in that moment. 

I look at the political landscape and shake my head in disappointment. 

I see how we are screwing with the climate and wish I could do more to help. 

But, alas I am only 15. Not that I can't do anything, Quite the opposite I can do a lot. But not always what I wish I could do. 

I even look beyond the mini world of humanity and look at how the rest of the world is doing. 

I have deep philosophical questions that drive me down rabbit hole after rabbit hole. 

Sometimes in the past I have felt like I have too vast a view on the world. But I have since come to terms with myself and the way I see the world. 

I see problems and find solutions, sometimes I write them down on paper but most of the time I just think about it.

I have been told that I have "An old soul's perspective" on the world. 

I feel like I jumped ahead in my maturity and am less bothered by all the stupid little things about high school.

I look at some of the other boys in my grade and am so confused with what they are doing.

I am 15, and I intend to do great things in my lifetime, but for now I am just going to try and enjoy being a teenager. 

I dread going to school every single day.

I hate it,

I hate being trapped there.

But I love being greeted by my best friend

who could make hell

feel as freezing as

these February Maryland mornings.

I love my best friend so much.

And I love the car rides to school

with my mom.

Her presence alone makes me

forget we're driving to misery,

her voice echoing during

our car conversations.

I love my mom so much.

I hate waking up early on the weekends,

my frivolous late night decisions

drowning my mind in regret,

forcing my eyes down into

the blackness of my pillow.

But I love the sound of my cats'

meows instead of an alarm clock,

the pressure of soft,

furry paws across my bed

and my chest to say "good morning".

Nuzzles across my hands

and my face.

I love my cats so much.

I hate that I live so far from my family.

Tired from long drives,

long weekends up to New York.

But the second I open

the door to whatever cousin's house

we're at this time,

it seems to feel like

I've lived in New York

all along.

The welcoming warm embraces

of my cousins,

the squeal she makes when

her arms wrap around me,

worth a million times

more than the four-hour drives.

I love my family so much.

There are so many people,

so many things,

whose love makes

the worst times

bearable.

So happy Valentine's Day to

my best friend,

my mom,

my cats,

my family,

my cousins.

The silver linings

of times that

would be so much worse

without them.