Never stop haunting me (poem)

No, they're not nightmares,

these dreams I have of you.

They're my only chance to see you,

to pretend you're still around.

So if you're a ghost haunting my dreams,

please never stop.

There's no bringing back the dead,

but I'll take your spirit over nothing.

This way we never say goodbye,

always meeting halfway between life and death.

This way I don't lose all I have of you

after your life was drained away.

So meet me halfway,

haunt me like I'm an old house

that you spent your life in

and was never able to let go.

Wander through the hallways of my mind

with such frequency

the other inhabitants grow accustomed

to seeing a ghost among them.

Haunt me until I crumble

and I burn to ash like you,

because then we'll meet again

in a place beyond dreams.

-Zero

After Ever After (poem)

So much time spent in fantasy,

in dreams of happily ever after,

my words have forgotten reality,

engage it like a stranger.

I put my pen to paper,

but everything comes out wrong,

completely inadequate,

as if all I can truly write are lies.

I think the fearful value courage,

and the dishonest value truth,

but for all my efforts to attain it,

I remain fearful and fictional.

A child of fire made of paper and ink

constantly striving to return,

but terrified of catching fire,

so he plays pretend instead.

I worry that despite my efforts

to depart from my fictions,

I will always be a stranger here,

in this world we call reality.

-Zero

When thunder should hold its tongue (poem)

Sometimes it's best to sit and listen,

and support others by just being there

than to write a response to it,

to talk of you in response to them.

Sometimes it's hard to know

whether to voice your support

or to just be there in solidarity,

a crowd for a cause instead of a novel.

Because sometimes when we speak,

we draw attention onto ourselves

like the booming voice of thunder

brings attention to the thunderstorm.

But the crashing of thunder

drowns out the pitter patter of the rain,

even though it only came because of it,

thunder distracts us from the rain's soft voice.

So sometimes it is best for us

if the thunder holds its tongue,

and allows the rain to speak freely

without being drowned out.

-Zero

Hurricane Relief (poem)

Sometimes the world seems so dark

that it's hard to believe it can be saved.

When hurricanes devastate so many,

Puerto Rico without power for six months,

with their president ready to abandon them

so he can focus on inciting war again.

But what can we even do,

besides getting lost in the darkness?

Besides giving up on the light,

on what can still be saved?

-Zero

The Lingering Shadows (poem)

Isn't it funny how the past,

despite being what is no longer,

has such an impact on the future?

A past filled with demons

who have all been burned away

is a shadow still cast over me.

No one notices it,

not till another points it out,

not until someone warns them.

Then the doubt is firmly planted,

and for some I become those demons

instead of the flames that burned them away.

So they leave,

and I'm left in a house of memories,

covered in the shadowy ash of the past.

-Zero