Teagan Thomas

Grey

I do not come here today

To sit and languish in dismay

I simply wish to ponder and think

Of what it’s like to be on the brink

On the line of white and black

And to say I’m light is just a fact

My mother is white, both grandmothers too

So what does that mean for me and you?

Shall I bleach myself completely clean

Let my blackness go unseen

But how could I, when you said

I was black, from toe to head

But would that really be right

When the world around me is so white

Can I claim myself to be

Just like you, and you like me?

And if I’m black, just like you

Can I not be white then, too?

How does one draw that line

Can the border be so fine?

Can I not be both white and black?

Am I limited to one side of the track?

Why must I choose a side?

Is there truly such a strong divide?

Perhaps there is another way

Perhaps we agree I’m simply grey

The World

I have no idea how I’ll change the world

I do want to, I swear I do

But let's keep that between me and you

I know the world is cruel and strange

I know things aren’t easy to change

People know, and I agree

About how bad the world can be

And if the stories whispered are to be believed

I won’t be so easily deceived

People speak, and I will listen

Even if I believe they unfairly christen

That the world is rotten, they speak of it’s inevitable demise

Is such cynicism truly so wise?

Would optimism be so naive?

Am I not allowed a small reprieve?

If I think only of the bad

I will surely not be as glad

As when I imagine the world to be

As prone to optimism as me

Good Times

Ignorance is bliss,

On this we all agree

But it is still surprising how ignorant you try to be

We talk and laugh and have a ball, we haven’t got a care

It is surprising how we can act like he was never there

How did we learn, I fear to ask, to pretend it all was fine?

It  is this careful quietness I think we should malign

Do not stop on my account, despite these tears I weep

The only time I cry them now is in my somber sleep

I wish to start, but how can I, when I fear this moment break

It is not this fragile happiness that I wish to take

I hope this time you start the talk

That you do not shy away or balk

We speak of memories and happy times,

 But we never speak of his demise

We speak and speak, but in the end we never really share

The unspoken heaviness that hangs in empty air

I think we deserve, or at the very least, I do want to pursue

To be sad and missing him, along with all of you