Peace Be With You

Peace be with you

as you go about your day;

and always peace for loved ones who

have sudden gone astray.

Peace be with you, now,

much than ever before;

and always peace for those who

need rest forevermore.

Peace be with you, somehow,

as the gentle rain falls down;

and always peace to the one who

wears the broken crown.

Peace be with you, always,

for time is running thin;

and always peace to they who

find the love within.

And peace be with you, creative mind,

for you hold all world's hope;

and peace be with the hurting, who

use that art to cope.

-LJ

08 December 2015

And I Was Alone

But I did learn something.
Even lonely people
have moments
in which they're happy.
But that rarely comes
when you're lonely
because no one's around
to see your happy moments.
And you feel depressed
because you feel so lonely
that you convince yourself
that those who love you
don't really care.
You convince yourself so deeply,
that your tears burn
and the thought carves itself
into the very private parts
of your humdrum mind.
You find solace
in hugging a childhood toy,
and remembering what it was like
to not be alone,
to feel safe, secure,
and above all... loved.

And there we were,
suddenly holding each other..
our cries of reunion,
like the moans of ghosts;
finally in the peace
that denying, we had been.

©  LJ

19 September 2014

(this poem is part of a longer poem 

I used for my English 12 Poetry Slam 

in December 2014 titled I Let Him Go)

Their eyes locked

Their eyes locked,
for about a second.

The witty sides of
everything in them
wanted to scream a beautiful apology.

He looked at her,
for about a second
as if to say "fuck you".

She looked at him,
for about five minutes;
one second in their reality, 

four minutes and 59 seconds
in her foggy mind,
as if to say "what happened?".

-LJ

14 October 2015

"defeat"

I went

 from spending too much time 

worried about the future,

to becoming 

a hysterical wreck

thinking about the past.

I went 

from caring about 

every single thing I did,

to really

not caring at all.

I went from asking "How"

to asking "why"

"because" I was "afraid"

to show "defeat".

Turns out

I had been "strong",

or, at least, looking the part,

so "long",

that honestly,

not even I could "realize"

how "weak" I actually "was".

And I don't think, 

not for a second,

that you realize it,

until you're failing everything,

and you're on the verge

of jumping off the precipice

into the gloomy black hole

called "defeat".

-LJ

04 December 2015

I Can See Your Soul

As the fluttering pink roses
rise,
I see the garden in your
eyes.
As the sunflowers in my
hair
greet the roses growing
everywhere.

I can see your soul.

It's beautiful and tired.

As the tears that dwell

subside,

I see the garden in your 

eyes.

As the roses and the 

thorns

begin to wear and tear until

torn.

You can see my soul?

It longs to be held.

By who?

Loving arms.

So it shall be.

So it has been.

So it will be, always.

So we grow.

So we've grown.

So we'll grow, always.

Together.

I can see your soul.

It is beautiful and tired.

It longs to be held in loving arms,

as if a small child

that is gifted the beauty of a butterfly's wings

and the song of an angel.

I can see your soul.

It is handsome and sleepy.

It longs to be cared for, 

loved, and understood.

It is gifted the beauty of a king,

and the song of a nightingale.

I can see your soul.

It grows like the flowers in our hair,

and flashes like the life before our eyes.

It is loving and kind.

It is scared, yet determined.

It is one, because we are one.

It echoes your heartbeat

so I may feel it in mine.

It is a story waiting to be told,

and one day, you will tell it,

for I am all I've done.

I can see your soul.

-LJ

15 August 2015 

But Smiling is Hard

My body is red.
My mind and soul are shaded blue.
My face so often tinted green,
like grass on lovely afternoons.

But smiling is hard,
even on sunny days;
that's why the clouds
have colored themselves gray.

My eyes have turned to glass
with wilted rose petals galore.
The thoughts I have flogged myself with,
I do not want anymore.

But smiling is hard,
even with the full moon bright;
because every night is day
and every day is night.

My song to this forsaken world
has silenced at this time.
Losing the heart to sing and write
and draw and reason and rhyme.

But smiling is hard,
with commotion crumbling the ground;
that I, myself, am lost
in the sight, the scene, and sound.

My smile is still there somewhere,
far beyond near future ties,
far beyond these thoughts I have,
far beyond these sickly lies.

But smiling is hard,
even on sunny days;
that's why I search and search for it
in so many, many ways.

-LJ
14 & 17 July 2015

Between Him & I

Between Him and I,

he's a kind-hearted guy

with a gleam in his eye

and a soft-sounding sigh.

He's a man with a heart

as gold as sun

and a warmth about him

that soothes everyone.

Between Him and I,

there's a curl to his hair

and a flaw here and there,

but he is perfect to me

beyond compare.

He's gentle and innocent

and gleaming with charm;

with a tip of his hat

and smile with no harm.

Between Him and I,

he's a sight to be seen.

He's a beautiful soul

with an innocent spirit

and eyes like the moon

and a tale like

the mapping of stars.

Between Him and I,

I speak of his good,

just like all should.

Between Him and I,

six years ago,

he went to be home

where now

he can be left alone.

And while we still grieve,

I know in my heart,

he and I, and he and world,

will never part. 

He's my muse,

my best friend and more.

He's got magic

and wisdom 

and much more in store.

Between Him and I...

he is one that I love.

He is one that inspires me

to go beyond and above.

Between Him and I..

well...

time will continue telling.

But I love him.

-LJ

25 June 2015

Six years ago, June 25th.

I Have A Wish

I have a wish.
I can't tell you what it is.
I can not tell another soul,
nor think of it.
It is the wish
in my dream
that longs to be
reality.

I have a wish.
I can't tell you what it is.
I can imagine it,
but I can't tell you what it is.
It is the yearn for an embrace,
the comfort of your word,
the lulling of you song.
It is the soothing touch,
the reliance of your protection,
the wisdom of your tale.
It is the mercy,
the spirit,
the sensation of your healing.
It is your gentle interaction
as you watched me discover
the world that surrounded me
and played the game of life.
It is the
sweet and gentle
hush of wind
that saves me
from the
grasp of depression,
gives me hope,
and teaches me
to believe again.

I have a wish.
I can't tell you what it is.
I can not tell...
but I can dream

and maybe one day,

it will reveal itself

in reality.

-LJ

11 June 2015

One Last Time

Feeling like you are losing control...

feeling like your feet aren't steady on the ground...

feeling like your hands can't grasp that one object...

feeling like you can't hold anything in,

but feeling everything about to come out...

...feeling...

one last time.

Talking to yourself...

because you're the only friend you have...

because you're the only one you trust...

because you're lonely,

but you're actually not so alone...

...feeling...

one last time,

that I am talking to myself,

to fill the empty silence

because loneliness

is not newborn, but is actually so old

that I'm used to being the one

feeling alone...

 one last time. 

-LJ

09 June 2015

I had the keys to the world;

I had the keys to the world;

how I wish I could show you

the echoing of the wind,

searching for harmonies of the rain.

I had the keys to the world;

how I yearn to embrace you

as we searched our souls for one another,

and trod the life beneath our feet.

I had the keys to the world;

how I plead with Heaven to let me prove

the plant did not died in vain,

but rather by the insensitive winter that passed.

I wish I could fulfill the need to embrace you,

I wish my plea to Heaven was not in vain,

but rather warmed by you, the feeling of spring.

I had the keys to the world.

Show me.  Yearn.  Plead.

Show me Heaven.

Please,

let us be together again;

forevermore.

-LJ

18 March 2015

If You Let Me Explore The World

If you let me explore the world, I will bring back a gift to you.

I will bring back the rarest jewel, most difficult to acquire.

I will bring back the aesthetics of water and fire.

Docile as a child, I will search for my heart's desire,

not knowing what lies there prior.

If you let me explore the world, I will come back empty-handed.

I traveled the world to realize the thing I took for granted.

In searching for my heart's desire, not knowing what lies there prior,

the power of aesthetics, of water and fire,

the rarest jewel most difficult to acquire...

You let me explore the world

to find the rarest jewel, my heart's desire,

and I did.

-LJ

8 March 2015