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Teesha 1d
The perils of the past etch your spirit,
Darkness banks on them for its untimely visits.

The survivor tries to fight them again and again and again,
But some days, their efforts just end in more pain.

These unexpected visits often keep them in a hollow place,
Where joy feels distant and hope is hard to chase.

Yet these visits are often what lead to liberation,
For pain paves the way to light — and the soul’s elation.

So, just hold your head high and your heart strong,
For gradually, things will get better — not long long.

Just get through today, take it day by day,
And trust — it will be alright, soon, come what may.
There’s a hollow kind of happiness
caught in the curve of an imperfect smile—
where soft lies rest gently on the tip
of a weary tongue.

To be truly happy is to risk the world
watching, waiting for your fall—
constantly crumbling on your knees,
like a prayer too faithful not to be heard.

Vows taste bittersweet, like knowing,
deep and quiet, that you’ll fail before you begin.
And still—you hold the hurt in your hands,
the same hurt that shaped you,
while denying how deeply it still aches.

But pain denied
denies you healing.


As you are still searching for yourself—
like an arrow already loosed, still chasing
its aim long after the bow has let go.

And maybe you won't land where you
thought—but you’ll find something solid
beneath your feet. And not every wound closes
clean, but even scars can trace a path for you
to follow.
Keeping up with the chaos in my mind
I tried to make everything like before
But ended up losing my own core
And my thoughts again clung to past

I tried to let go many times
Forgetting it was my purest addiction
Which resulted in leaving me behind
With the echoes of the stranded scars
This piece came from a space between acceptance and breakdown. It’s about the moments we think we’ve moved on… until the silence reminds us we haven’t.
I didn’t plan to make it this far.
the road was long, and I was tired.
Life never promised me softness,
but then there was you ~
folding sunlight into my hours
like it had always belonged there.

You, who can fit
a decade of joy into a single day,
whose laugh pulls the dust from old corners
and leaves something living in its place.
Your eyes ~
they undress more than skin.
They peel back the years I wore like armor,
and somehow,
I do not mind being seen.

You say you don’t like your greys.
But I ~
I never thought I’d wear time like this,
like a shared jacket
slung across the backs of two souls
sitting on a porch too small for regret.
Each silver strand a mile we’ve wandered,
each wrinkle a map I get to trace
with grateful hands.

If this is what age can look like;
soft, surprising,
filled with the kind of joy
that hums low in the bones,
then let time come.
Let it etch you deeper into me.
Let it bring more of your quiet magic,
the kind that rewrites endings
before they’re written.

Whatever waits for us next,
I will greet it smiling.
Because somehow,
you made forever feel
less like a promise,
and more like a present.
I didn’t write this for the version of me who was trying to escape life - I wrote it for the version who stayed. For the kind of love that makes survival feel like an offering instead of a sentence. Aging isn’t always decay. Sometimes, it’s a second beginning. And sometimes, someone arrives and makes the rest of the story feel worth writing.
Joshua Phelps Jul 29
tricked myself
into believing
i was okay.

took another path,
veered off course—

now my
neuropathways
are backfiring.

forcing myself
to keep my head high,

so i don’t slip
into the same
chaotic state

that’s way
too familiar.

it’s all
so tiring.

i’m sick
of it.

tired of
feeling comatose,
unalive,

just drifting.
with tired
eyes.

i’m ready
for what’s next.

i need something
with weight—
with substance.
with meaning.

i’m done
keeping my
head down.

i’m done
drowning.

it’s my time.

this isn’t
my ending.

this is the
beginning

of an era
they thought
was lost.

i’m reclaiming
what’s mine—

i’m ready
for

what’s next.

because nothing
will hold me down

anymore.
inspired by Slaves' "Patience is the Virtue," this poem is an anthem for anyone who’s been buried under burnout, trauma, and self-doubt—but still rises. “what’s next” isn’t just a question—it’s a declaration. the past may haunt, but it no longer owns the future. this is reclamation.
Joshua Phelps Jul 28
you’ve suffered
for so long

and now
you want to give up

because all
you’ve ever wanted
was to be
something
to someone —

to belong
in this world

your knees buckle
and hit the ground

you try to cry
but nothing comes out

you ask yourself:
am i emotionless?
am i
down
for the count?

touching the surface
you look
for ways
to escape
this spiral

is this
the final
temperamental break?

you scream
shaking your fist
at the sky

you search
for hope —
but you see it
nowhere
at all

maybe one day
you’ll wake up

and realize
hope
was always
around

move
forward,
rebound.

this is your
time —

your time to
not let your
emotions
drown.
A poem written during a moment of collapse — when hope felt farthest away — but somehow, through the haze, I found a whisper of light.

This is a letter to myself. A reminder that even in the worst of it, hope doesn’t leave. Sometimes it just waits for us to remember.
Calestial Ink Jul 27
Oh my dark pain,
Won’t you let any cracks to beam?
You deprived free will from my happiness —
Now they wander like fugitives
In their own hometown.

Tiny crumbles of faith
Fear to cluster
Because of you.

Leave some seats for the light.
I’m shivering like a candle’s tiny flare
Alone in the night.

Tell the thunders to call a ceasefire,
Let the clouds calm down.
Don’t blow so hard—
Just breathe,
Stoke my fire up.

Face the truth:
This war
Will never end.
A plea from a soul trembling in war — asking the night to soften, the storm to pause, and the light to dare return.
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