In a corner there
I see your memory,
A child who could neither fight nor flee,
Hiding from reality
In the circle of your arms
Do you find safety?
Wishing the world around would disappear,
"I'm only safe when it's just me"
......
I never see the waves of grief coming
why would I
I’m not dead
yet
every now and then
I think about all the things
that have happened in my life,
everything I thought I was desensitized to,
and I am unbearably saddened
because what I went through
......
Sometimes I wonder, what makes the heart so cruel,
When forgiveness blooms in the soil of a soul’s duel.
If I, broken and bent, can rise from the wreck,
Can bury the ghosts, and silence the wrecked,
Why can’t they let go, leave me in peace,
And allow me the breath of a soft release?
I don’t ask for riches, or a word of praise,
Not even a promise, not even a gaze.
Though they tore from me every spark, every light,
......
They say forgiveness is for those who were wronged
But so is choosing not to forgive
You don’t have to forgive those who hurt you
In order to move on from that time
It doesn’t matter how many times
they did or didn’t hit you
It doesn’t matter how many times
they did or didn’t scream at you
......
If memories ever come in a can that has to have a shelf life, I hope it’s 10,000 years.
— He Qiwu, from Chungking Express
you told me it’s a ritual taking friends out on their birthdays, and
i must say, with friends, i expected to be surprised by
two you-know-what words, and yet i was surprised
by two cups of kit-kat mcflurry, soft and crunchy mix
with our salty stories of schoolwork, student societies, et cetera—
you with your parents travelling, and mine back in saigon.
......
I never see the waves of grief coming
why would I
I’m not dead
yet
every now and then
I think about all the things
that have happened in my life,
everything I thought I was desensitized to,
and I am unbearably saddened
because what I went through
......
They say forgiveness is for those who were wronged
But so is choosing not to forgive
You don’t have to forgive those who hurt you
In order to move on from that time
It doesn’t matter how many times
they did or didn’t hit you
It doesn’t matter how many times
they did or didn’t scream at you
......
Sometimes I wonder, what makes the heart so cruel,
When forgiveness blooms in the soil of a soul’s duel.
If I, broken and bent, can rise from the wreck,
Can bury the ghosts, and silence the wrecked,
Why can’t they let go, leave me in peace,
And allow me the breath of a soft release?
I don’t ask for riches, or a word of praise,
Not even a promise, not even a gaze.
Though they tore from me every spark, every light,
......
My house is just that
A place for sleeping and belonging
But I don't want to go into it
Because of my issues from my trauma
My social media is for connections
But I'm terrified of the prison
Of my family's hate
and their relentless criticism
......
I'm a man of my word today
Because you never believed me when I told you why I was crying
I'm a man of my word today
I was a child then and somehow I was always your enemy
I'm a man of my word today
Because you told me you'd reject me
If I put myself first before my parent's priorities
......