Student Poetry

Poem 1

I can’t breathe 

My lungs feel as though they are filled with sand 

Not the soft warm sand that nestles between your toes

But the sand that hides and burrows within

The sand that is rough and mixed with the broken seashells people don’t pick up 

With each slow painful breath, the room slowly fills with a heavy vapor 

A heavy green vapor of his cigarettes and cheap cologne

A heavy vapor that dances through the air and chases my hope and childhood innocence

It dances like the ballerinas I watched on TV

The ballerinas that are free from the many monsters that pour sand within me each day

Oh how I wish I could dance like them 

Oh how I wish I could be them 

I try to emulate the ballerinas in my mind 

but as I get on stage the stitches in my glittery tutu begin to unravel 

It falls to shreds on the floor with pieces of my essence 

The smoke dissipates as I come back into my body, aware of every feeling, aware of my reality 

The pain makes me gasp

Gasp for a breath

Gasp for a being that will not come for me

Gasp for just one man to treat me more than a vessel to store their sand

Poem 2

In heaven, there is a team of Angels that prepare children for their lives on earth

Their wings are stitched with hope and endearment 

Their clothes are white like the snowflakes that settle on your nose

“Come my darling for it is your time,” my Guardian Angel said softly

“Why must I leave? I’m not ready for the life I must endure on earth” I cried

Yes, you will have to endure much in your life but it is to prepare your for God’s work

“You are different my dear, you were chosen amongst many” My Angel reassured 

God has provided me with your basket and each thing will be placed in your heart 

Here is your hope in which you will cling onto for dear life 

Here is your strength that will nest in your spirit like a baby bird 

Here is your love which you will sprinkle onto others like a baker dusting a cake

Here is your courage to pave the way 

Here is your light which you somehow never let burn out 

I am sorry but I must also fill your basket with the things you will endure

Why? I can’t be the one, there has to be another to fulfil this role, I’m not ready! I say

In your life weakness will chase you like a lion hunting a gazelle

Darkness will drape over your being like a wave covering the shore

You will have to hold on through the pain and hurt

You will reach out for your own hand 

But you are extraordinary 

You will change the lives of many 

You are a light amidst the darkness

You 

Were 

Chosen 

It is time to go but I will be with you every step of the way watching over you

You are ready

“You are,” says the Angle wiping my tears

With each caress of my check 

I slowly sink down from the clouds into my mother’s arms 

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