Wasted Love

Everything I see reminds me of you,
From the grass’ green to the sky’s blue.
Even as I walk over to visit, you still take up my mind,
Your beauty, your elegance, it’s all so refined.
I want to wholly accept the infatuation,
And yet my heart still tightens with frustration.

I see your beaming face in a toddler’s grin,
Chocolate dripping down their chubby chin.
I see your chiding laugh in the reflection of my change,
Your eyes in the pennies and nickels, it’s strange.
As I receive from the florist the bouquet of flowers,
I smell your fragrance, a scent I could take in for hours.
As I head down the street towards where you wait,
I can only remember the day of our wondrous first date.

Placing the flowers on your grave, I just yearn to know,
Where is all my wasted love supposed to now go?

Ares’ Flame

There seems to lie a certain charm in war,
Beauty in the soaring bullets you hear.
Elation in charging up with a roar,
A distinct joy in the enemy’s fear.

Why else does man carry on fighting,
Drawn into it like a magnet’s firm pull?
The god of war has to be delighting,
As our bodies are scattered with lead full.

Yet I cannot spot that grisly allure,
Even after countless years of combat.
Mangled bodies buried in a sewer,
I somehow don’t find the appeal in that.

The only answer fills me with distress:
Ares’ flame is not something I possess.

Fly High

We first began compiling our bucket list during the summer of seventh grade. The news of Copper’s incurable cancer had hit me like a freight train, but you always had the stronger mental fortitude, already dashing around the apartment looking for ways to cheer me up while I sniffled on the apartment floor. Copper circled us all the while, wagging his fluffy little tail unbeknownst to the whole situation.

“Hey, you know dogs are supposed to live for ten years?” I whispered, my voice hoarse and wavering. “Copper’s only two years old, but he’s already…”

“In that case,” you had stated firmly, “we’ll just have to create enough memories in his remaining days to last him a full lifetime’s worth.”

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Sliver of Eternity

      I placed my arms onto the warm sphere, feeling the rays of setting sun slowly warming my bare skin. To my left and right, many more identical rocky balls lined the edge of the plaza, forming a perfect circle. The laughs of my friends resounded from behind me, as they partook in an activity that only faintly reached my ears. Just a moment ago I was laughing and playing along with them, but it felt like the atmosphere had changed, though I couldn’t exactly place why. There wasn’t anything in particular that drew me to that plaza. But my body had moved before my mind had figured out a reason, and I found myself using up my precious free time to lie on a warm ball of rock. I didn’t mind it, for some reason.

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Out of Battery

A flash of light signals a new checkpoint,
Pixels passing across a vibrant goal.
The console gripped between ten weary joints,
Story dragging you down the rabbit hole.

The night outside swirls like a pitch-black ink,
Though that world you knew prior is no more.
Seeing only woods of monsters who wink,
Fatal battles against dragons who roar.

But the colorful world is ripped from sight,
The suddenly fractured illusion fades.
Inky gloom floods in and quenches all light,
Ending the vivid campaign of charades.

And yet in darkness there is one savior;
Autosave rescues careless behavior.