escape their fate

souls entwined
with a desire
to escape their fate

ancestors
collectively mourning
lost childhoods

disparate people
drawn together
by shared suffering

stumbling
forward
into a new life

fleeing their pasts
unwittingly creating
their futures

they know
what not to do
but not what to do

attempting to avoid
the same mistakes
their parents made

desperately praying
for their children
to escape their fate

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

years on repeat

huddled 
in a corner
years 
on repeat
every minute

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Without

Without hope
My inner compass breaks

Without faith
I can’t find it

Without love
I don’t have anywhere to go

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Those Few Words

Those few words
Gave voice
To the silence
I always knew
Was there

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

The Love That’s Real

The love I feel
So impossibly real

The love that’s real
So impossible to feel

A point of reality
Against a bleak totality

A bleak totality
Devoid of reality

A pinprick of light
That illuminates the night

A dark night
Pricked with terror and flight

A whispered prayer
Promising a truth and a dare

A violent glare
Promising pain and a scare

A look and a touch
That’s never too much

A look and a touch
That’s always too much

A lifetime together
Souls entwined forever

A lifetime together
Souls enmeshed forever

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

They See

I get more solace
In a day
From strangers online
Than you’ve given me
In a lifetime

They ask
They listen
They see

You just speak

Holding me
To higher standards
Than you hold yourself

Judging me
For acting
How you act

Hating me
For being
Who I am

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

The Devil Speaks

The devil speaks
With the voice
Of those
I love

Whispering
Half truths
Whispering
Lies

I cannot
Always
Tell
Them apart

So
I hurt
The very people
I wanted to save

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Silence

And just like that
The silence
Was broken

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Mere Thought

Isn’t it fascinating
Just how much
A mere thought
Can derail
An otherwise perfect day?

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Running

I’ve been running
For so long
That I’ve forgotten
What scared me
In the first place

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This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken