Page 35 - Everyone a Writer Anthology 2021

The Void

grey, 7:45am and life restarts itself, over and over,
cold, life is a broken remote,
clouds with their once cheery gusto, pausing
now float forgotten. forsaken. forlorn. rewinding
bustling streets with the hidden footprints of once my biggest problem was my score on a test,
families, children, lovers, now it’s the sheer fear of being stuck in this draining
now concealed under the hefty prints of business routinely loop,
men and politicians, too lazy to brush my teeth, too lazy to comb my hair
off to go and decide our future, too lazy to think
your future, too lazy to live.
my future.
I miss the hugs
let them act like they know best, I miss the touch
they’ve already had their fair share of fun and I miss being a teen
games, I miss complaining about school
now let them strip me of my best years, miss laughing with my friends
let them stay ignorant to our sorrow, I miss seeing my family
as malleable as puppets, are we? I miss waving hello
desolation overwhelms us quicker than you think, I miss running through school doors
swallowing us whole, miss saying goodbye.
the monsters we were scared of as kids,
this is it, only the distant echoes of ecstasy and glee mingle,
loneliness. in the misery polluted air,
now, only a void of intolerable hush,
happiness is the fresh bed of snow you wake up while the sun carries on shining his warming glow,
to in late december, no light is bestowed upon us,
unfathomable. sickness creeps in on our smiles,
just as it arrives, it leaves, giggles become gags,
one day we’re with our friends, laughing, smiling, good mourning to us all.
living,
you close your eyes and then you’re confined Gunjon Paul, Y9
inside, Meadowhead
reminiscing when we should really be living,
one day in, one day out
one day out, one day in
let me escape.

masks and sanitizer take the place of pencils and
paper,
staring at a screen all day, just to soon replace it
with a smaller one,
my world has become an abyss,
its stopped its spinning,
I miss the sound of the school bells ringing,
learning is a tiring chore nowadays,
staggered starts, testing, distance,
please, do all it takes
just let me go back.

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