I tried to run away
From all the pain I had
I tried to escape away from all screams
Cause they're making me mad

But they won't let me go
they keep on chasing me
They don't wanna **** me
They keep on torturing me

Sinking in fear
Choking in lies
No place to hide

But I can't bear this more
I've been off the shore
All those things I can't ignore

Wake me up
Pull me up
Tell me it's just a dream
Even it's not
I can't hear those screams more
No more

She stood there patiently waiting
For the steam to dissipate
As the mirror slowly revealed the lines
That earnt a place on her face

Honest, open and naked
Exposed and filter-free
Taking a moment to witness  
The beautiful chaos she turned out to be

A flurry of deep emotions  
At the mercy of her reflection
The room dead with silence
Through her eyes, her soul did beckon  

Now that the guise was lifted
She welcomed the tears of pain
A euphoric and deep connection
Healing only she could mend

She lingered there a while longer
Enjoying her presence and space
Willing to take the next step
It was written all over her face

Embarking on a new journey
A promise she needed to make  
To love and respect herself
For if not, it would be her biggest mistake

Curious and free, my love
Remember how that felt
So young and so naive
No money, stature or wealth

Curious and free, my love
My God did we explore
Traversing around the globe
Two-three times, more...

Curious and free, my love
We danced with many a wave
Chased wild dolphins
Roamed seabeds and caves

Curious and free, my love
Sand trickled through our toes  
Witnessed sunrises from mountain tops
Immersed headfirst in pistes of snow

Curious and free, my love
Late nights and sweet romancing
Wild parties, early mornings
Reminiscing of crazy dancing

Still curious but not so free my love
Our adultness restraints us
Still, wealthy from all those adventures
Maybe our next chapter will define us

I didn’t want
To say goodbye
I thought we’d travel
The earth
You and I
But you no longer
Visit me
In my dreams
The silence in my
Head is
deafening
I’m
Shattered.

                   -L. Frost

Twenty Twenty
What a year
It‘s been
A Pandemic
Lockdown
All in between
We took on the news
A lot was said
Digested it
Analysed it
The papers we read
It was like nothing
We’d ever lived through before
It’s intangible force
We just couldn’t ignore
It crept up upon us
Like a thief in the night
Days on repeat
No end in sight
From loved ones
To livelihoods
Completey wiped out
Broken-hearted
Desolate
Filled with so much doubt
Tier one
Two
Three and four
Some followed the rules
Others chose to ignore
We needed some answers
A glimmer of hope
Too much to comprehend
On this never ending *****
Then came good news
A vaccine was near
Would this solve our problems?
No more living in fear?
With 2021 looming
As we ring in the New Year
What have we learnt?
What’s important?
What’s dear?
Maybe Mother Nature
Wasn’t being heard
A deeper message for us all
That wasn’t being shared  
Finger on the button
Press rewind
Say hello to your neighbour
Practice being kind
Time to reflect
From this year to the next
How will you change you ways?
What will you do next?
Sometimes the hardest questions
Are the easiest to escape
But a conscious decision
Determines the action we take
A little gratitude perhaps?
Pay it forward?
Lend some help?
Practice daily affirmations ?
Look after your mental health?
I know one thing that’s true
For me I’m sure
I found my purpose
My reason
My cure!

Thoughts of you
Still smolder
In the ashes of
a forgotten ******
That never
Was.

             -L. Frost

“… also known as the skeleton flower, has white petals that turn translucent with rain. When dry, they revert to white.” – Wikipedia

They call it the skeleton flower;
its petals change from chalk
to crystal when it rains; melodic droplets
wash away the white, leaving transparent fingerprints.

12:01 p.m.
You showed me my reflection
in a funhouse mirror
and told me I was ugly.

You soaked me with your scorn;
I wilted and hoped you couldn’t see
through my skin.
I think I saw through yours.

My exposed arteries were empty, unfulfilled
because years ago I hid my dreams, only small
brown seeds, in a shoebox under my bed;
discarded to please the unpleasable.

I saw you, drenched and dropping drips;
you tried to sprinkle them off on others.  

So, I strung my tears on a necklace
to remind me never to treat anyone
the way you treated yourself. Then I took out
that old shoebox from under the bed;
I could feel my dreams rattling
as I took off the lid
little yellow hearts that I’d ripped from my core
burst from the seeds and I wound
them around my fingers like rings;

I’ve worn them ever since.

2:01 p.m.
I dried. My skin was a succulent white
and I promised, I would never let anyone,
tell me who I was again.

we’re living in a distracted world, 
with fantasies that bubbles our mind,
full of barely controlled chaos,
but then i remembered the feeling,
when your eyes locked onto mine,
focusing, listening, hearing, caring,
the comfort and pleasure you once made
is cannot be measured,
not by words, some stranger or even an event.

i am grateful for all you do;
because i can state the fact that,
when my life overwhelms and does me in,
consumes me and destroys me,
you make everything all right,
and on that moment,
you became my everything,
you are everything that i believed was right.

3rd day in the row,
tik tik,
past midnight,but no sign of sleep,
tik tik,
instead,my brain is drifting into thoughts,
tik tik,
which no man can think in sanity,
tik tik,
sound of clock keeping me calm and awake,
tik tik,
if not for the clock i would have been grotesque by the thoughts,
tik tik,
looking into the abyss through the window near my bed,
tik tik,
thinking about the tree which is right now growing wood for my coffin,
tik tik,
than suddenly,
tik tik,
i saw,
tik tik,
just outside my window,
tik tik,
a face,
tik tik,
i live on 14th floor,
tik tik.

-tik tik by adarsh singh