Hello
Henry Bruns - 2022
It seems like yesterday was our first hello
It passed through me like the brightest star in the sky
I would never want to leave nor let go
Saying hello was easier than goodbye
One day it hit me as I lay in the fields with you
That the purpose of life was letting go
Finding a meaning and losing the ones you love and know
It may be a struggle saying goodbye
But know there will always be another time
A time to say hello
Henry Bruns - 2022
It seems like yesterday was our first hello
It passed through me like the brightest star in the sky
I would never want to leave nor let go
Saying hello was easier than goodbye
One day it hit me as I lay in the fields with you
That the purpose of life was letting go
Finding a meaning and losing the ones you love and know
It may be a struggle saying goodbye
But know there will always be another time
A time to say hello
Single on Valentine’s Day
Karlie J. Huffman - 2024
Kisses and xoxo’s are everywhere
Lovers near and far share this day
People giving gifts here and there
What do you do if you’re single on Valentine’s Day?
You could find a friend and spend it with them
Or be someone’s secret admirer
Buy them lots of goodies and go out on a limb
Or make a song about love and start your own choir
Stay home and watch sad movies to fit your mood
Or you can order postmates to your home
Who needs a lover when you got food
Forgot staying home treat yourself to a vacation in Rome
Love is truly a beautiful sight to see
Boys and Girls across the world sharing this love-filled day
You cry yourself to sleep every night
Wondering why you are single on valentines day
Maybe your face is too wide
Or your height is too short
Maybe I got too tied
Or maybe when I laugh I snort
Do I have an ugly laugh
Is that why no one likes me?
Or maybe my lips measure two feet and a half
At least I don’t have to argue with someone, I’m free
You question yourself am I just not enough for them
The real answer is you’re perfect the way you are
A lover shall not make your heated candle dim
One day there will be a person for you and that day is not too far
Karlie J. Huffman - 2024
Kisses and xoxo’s are everywhere
Lovers near and far share this day
People giving gifts here and there
What do you do if you’re single on Valentine’s Day?
You could find a friend and spend it with them
Or be someone’s secret admirer
Buy them lots of goodies and go out on a limb
Or make a song about love and start your own choir
Stay home and watch sad movies to fit your mood
Or you can order postmates to your home
Who needs a lover when you got food
Forgot staying home treat yourself to a vacation in Rome
Love is truly a beautiful sight to see
Boys and Girls across the world sharing this love-filled day
You cry yourself to sleep every night
Wondering why you are single on valentines day
Maybe your face is too wide
Or your height is too short
Maybe I got too tied
Or maybe when I laugh I snort
Do I have an ugly laugh
Is that why no one likes me?
Or maybe my lips measure two feet and a half
At least I don’t have to argue with someone, I’m free
You question yourself am I just not enough for them
The real answer is you’re perfect the way you are
A lover shall not make your heated candle dim
One day there will be a person for you and that day is not too far
A Galactic Symphony
Layal El-Ayoubi - 2023
A lone star drifts north to catch the shadows of familiarity.
Much of her constellation, however diverse, cling to one another to form an astonishing matrix
of artistry.
They all travel in different directions.
Yet, they move as one unit just as helicopter seeds dribble along the breeze in the springtime.
While the lone star now travels in a unit of one.
She had once helped to compose the rich harmony that they sang.
But she can sing it no more.
Her voice has fallen out of tune.
She longs to be a part of their song, but however much she pleads and wishes,
The constellation simply does not have room for another star.
Perhaps I am too bulky, and
suppose I cannot shine as brightly,
she wonders.
Her stomach churns with the thought of losing their trail, but her drive begins to falter.
She can no longer chase the constellation.
She can no longer close the gap.
For now, they have built their own universe.
The lone star begins to sink.
Gravity pulls her out of orbit and she mindlessly drifts into a place of peculiar creatures.
A constellation of planets, asteroids, and other galactic phenomena.
Every member did not shine.
It wasn’t their job to do so.
Instead each sung a different tune that blended together to create a soulful and productive
melody.
The lone star often thinks of how beautiful a chorus her old and new constellations could create
together.
Alas, only she will ever know the beauty that was overlooked
when the other stars let the lone star shine as one.
Now, the lone star sits among the clouds and watches over the seas.
Sandy beaches wash upon her
as the delicate melody and vivid harmony play a symphony that ripples across the waves.
Soon, the memory of her glorious former constellation
begins dwindling like the kindling that rests in a campfire on a starry night.
Layal El-Ayoubi - 2023
A lone star drifts north to catch the shadows of familiarity.
Much of her constellation, however diverse, cling to one another to form an astonishing matrix
of artistry.
They all travel in different directions.
Yet, they move as one unit just as helicopter seeds dribble along the breeze in the springtime.
While the lone star now travels in a unit of one.
She had once helped to compose the rich harmony that they sang.
But she can sing it no more.
Her voice has fallen out of tune.
She longs to be a part of their song, but however much she pleads and wishes,
The constellation simply does not have room for another star.
Perhaps I am too bulky, and
suppose I cannot shine as brightly,
she wonders.
Her stomach churns with the thought of losing their trail, but her drive begins to falter.
She can no longer chase the constellation.
She can no longer close the gap.
For now, they have built their own universe.
The lone star begins to sink.
Gravity pulls her out of orbit and she mindlessly drifts into a place of peculiar creatures.
A constellation of planets, asteroids, and other galactic phenomena.
Every member did not shine.
It wasn’t their job to do so.
Instead each sung a different tune that blended together to create a soulful and productive
melody.
The lone star often thinks of how beautiful a chorus her old and new constellations could create
together.
Alas, only she will ever know the beauty that was overlooked
when the other stars let the lone star shine as one.
Now, the lone star sits among the clouds and watches over the seas.
Sandy beaches wash upon her
as the delicate melody and vivid harmony play a symphony that ripples across the waves.
Soon, the memory of her glorious former constellation
begins dwindling like the kindling that rests in a campfire on a starry night.
Every Step
A soliloquy
Calder Sprinkle - 2021
If there was a thing in this world
that could take away my sickness,
and the solitude that I feel--
What would such a thing be worth?
Prized over gold and steel;
Loved beyond king and country,
Held aloft above land and sea--
What would someone do
to be able to take that thing in their hand;
To grasp it between their fingers, to shout:
“This is Mine!”
But at what cost?
Would it drive to madness?
Into deep withering anxiety that it would one day be lost?
even, dare I say, back to the very isolation
Which it was taken to destroy?
No, such a thing cannot be;
Countless wars would be fought,
countless errors made,
too many lives put at stake
for it to be allowed to endure in time.
It is better for us all
to be free of such a simple power
that could control even the strongest of hearts;
For the greatest of folk
would be the one who needed it most;
who been through the most.
To be allowed to forget
all the nightmares that plague us
as we sleep, deep into the world of the dark and the moon.
Ignorance is bliss in this world.
A beautiful blue sky can so quickly turn to grey
that even the vibrant colors of spring
can fall as flat as snow in an instant.
In the end, are we better off alone?
Are we better off only pretending to hear the words
Spoken to the space that surrounds us?
Or is it still worth the death sentence
that is scrawled across this perilous road of life?
We are called to believe
that there is purpose in simply getting up in the morning;
that there is reason in every step
and that a meaning runs the river of every tragedy.
A soliloquy
Calder Sprinkle - 2021
If there was a thing in this world
that could take away my sickness,
and the solitude that I feel--
What would such a thing be worth?
Prized over gold and steel;
Loved beyond king and country,
Held aloft above land and sea--
What would someone do
to be able to take that thing in their hand;
To grasp it between their fingers, to shout:
“This is Mine!”
But at what cost?
Would it drive to madness?
Into deep withering anxiety that it would one day be lost?
even, dare I say, back to the very isolation
Which it was taken to destroy?
No, such a thing cannot be;
Countless wars would be fought,
countless errors made,
too many lives put at stake
for it to be allowed to endure in time.
It is better for us all
to be free of such a simple power
that could control even the strongest of hearts;
For the greatest of folk
would be the one who needed it most;
who been through the most.
To be allowed to forget
all the nightmares that plague us
as we sleep, deep into the world of the dark and the moon.
Ignorance is bliss in this world.
A beautiful blue sky can so quickly turn to grey
that even the vibrant colors of spring
can fall as flat as snow in an instant.
In the end, are we better off alone?
Are we better off only pretending to hear the words
Spoken to the space that surrounds us?
Or is it still worth the death sentence
that is scrawled across this perilous road of life?
We are called to believe
that there is purpose in simply getting up in the morning;
that there is reason in every step
and that a meaning runs the river of every tragedy.