Struggle Poems
Reprieve
by Jen Wright
Heal, my heart!
Heal, my darling.
The scars are rough,
The tissue’s raw,
But pain
It has subsided,
So, heal some more!
See, my sombre mind!
See brightly,
......
The Struggle
by Samson Oloto
They told us to grow
Told us to be men
Responsibilities abound
All you have to meet
We wake up at dawn
Eyes heavy from a lack of sleep
We enter the streets
With millions of people like us
All in a race, and a constant struggle
To meet up with expectations
......
Aries
by Kyle McAfee
Perspective is a hell of a thing.
Meeting her was like looking into the eyes of a phoenix.
Soaring through a forest blanketed in darkness
Fire illuminating the night sky,
Radiating a gradient of yellows and reds,
While burning down the ferns and pines that block her path.
Too beautiful not to stare
But also, too dangerous to linger.
......
A Race with My Mind
by Yasmeen Kamel
The stars don't shine as bright tonight,
Their distant glow can't feel the fight,
The struggle to keep it together,
And not feel under the weather,
The struggle to keep a smile on my face,
When it feels like I'm in a race,
A race with my thoughts and emotions,
......
The Train of Freedom
by Khayelihle Bongiswa Gamedze
Just how far is the train of freedom from the discriminated son?
Just how far is the train of freedom from the black homeless child?
Just how far is the train of freedom from the disabled poet?
And just how far are the winds of change from a corrupted nation!?
Just how far is the train of freedom from the fields of Waterloo?
Just how far is the struggling warrior from the mountain top?
Just how long is 365 days 27 times behind bars, I mean,
Just how far is freedom from a lonely child at play?...
......
Reprieve
by Jen Wright
Heal, my heart!
Heal, my darling.
The scars are rough,
The tissue’s raw,
But pain
It has subsided,
So, heal some more!
See, my sombre mind!
See brightly,
......
A Race with My Mind
by Yasmeen Kamel
The stars don't shine as bright tonight,
Their distant glow can't feel the fight,
The struggle to keep it together,
And not feel under the weather,
The struggle to keep a smile on my face,
When it feels like I'm in a race,
A race with my thoughts and emotions,
......
Pomelo
by Kimani Hare
An even thicker rind of bitter pith,
Estranged from the serenity that lies outside its comprehension.
For what resides within is a supple flesh dissonant to its confines,
Exuding a sweet nectar that remains clothed in the abstract.
But the bitter fruit thrives in its circumstances.
......
The 'Only Child'
by Nad Sof
The 'only child'—
the one who must get all the attention,
the child whose heart is pulled in endless directions,
caught between love and expectation.
The 'only child'—
the one who struggles to understand her parents:
why her father’s anger burns so hot,
only to hear it’s because he loves her.
Why her mother’s tears spill,
......
The Day I Saw Death, and It Smiled at Me
by Christen Kuikoua
That day, as though yesterday it lingers,
The school bell rang, yet sickness clutched my fingers.
From nowhere it struck, with a pressure so deep,
My body faltered, as if yearning for sleep.
“It’s a sickness like every other,” I thought,
So I bathed, dressed, and the next morning fought.
Yet by the first class, my strength ebbed away,
To the nurse I staggered, hoping she'd delay
This strange shadow that loomed over my frame,
......
