Dear Professor Adams,

I enjoyed being in your class this semester. I have learned so much about poetry and my
classmates’ and your comments were really helpful to revising my poems. I would like to start
off that as short story and novel writer, I am not the best at poems. Usually, I’m that kind of
writer that likes to get to the point. I tend to “tell not show”. However, I learned that poems are
“show not tell” so adding imagery and literary devices were really hard for me but I learned and
the 8 poems in this portfolio will show you that. All 8 of these poems were something that I
wrote previously and sent them to you for feedback, or I wrote these poems and I sent them to
you for feedback. Either way, I got your feedback and I incorporated them into the poems.
First poem is “The Two Voices In My Head”. This poem is just a long poem in general. It was
about well… two voices in my head which I describe vividly and then surprise! There’s a third
voice that ends up being my own voice that I choose to listen to. I was told to apply more
imagery and to work on structure such as line breaks and stanzas. So, what I did was apply more
imagery to the pessimistic and optimistic voice and changed the structure a bunch by adding
ascending and descending paragraphs. It was hard but I eventually got it.
Second Poem is “Black or White”. This poem discusses race and which race I belong to and how
it’s decided what race one belong to. I decided that I am my own race and that nothing should
determine that but your race. This poem is a prose poem and was really long at first. I took the
advice to take out unnecessary detail and proportions. To be honest, I really liked the proportions
have considered keeping them. I decided to take them out to see how I like it and it’s not bad but
I have no problem to put them back in if I edit this poem again one day. All the edits turned my 1
½ page poem into a paragraph as I decided that that was best.
The third poem is “Downhill”. When I first wrote this, I actually sent it in for a contest. I did not
win. However, I made some improvements on it and I’m really proud of it. This poem is about
mental health with the metaphor being a hill. The first draft wasn’t that symbolic so, I decided to
add a lot of symbolism. I also made changes to the stanzas. The stanzas were even but I decided
to make them uneven because I wanted a main idea into each stanza and I couldn’t do that with
each stanza having the same amount of lines. It’s different but I love different.
The fourth poem is called “That Day At The Funeral”. This poem is a whole metaphor of the
ending of a toxic relationship. It’s based off of “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain” by Emily
Dickinson. This was a short poem at first but I was given the advice to expand it by adding more
description of the narrator and others around them. That’s exactly what I did and I also practice
the line breaks. I gave each stanza a different amount of lines again because I felt like I could get
each point across that way much better.
The fifth poem is “Me”. This was one of my strong poems. This was an ekphrasis poem based
off my favorite song, “See Through” by Pentatonix. So if it has Pentatonix in it, you know it’s a
good poem. I enjoyed writing this and I put my heart soul into this poem. You saw that and
agreed to the point where I barely got any advice to make this poem better. The only advice that I
got was to remove a few words and convey that dark past into imagery which is what I did. I also
had to add a title. That was the hardest part however, I finally got it. Even though it is in some
way a love poem, the journey of this poem is about me and working on being me. The song is
about being yourself so I simply decided to name this poem, “Me” because that is what this
poem is about.
Sixth poem is “Love or an Obsession”. Let’s be honest, I wrote this poem with the intention of
thinking about Pentatonix. However, you can also view this poem with someone you love deeply
as well to the point where you start to question, whether they are love or an obsession. This poem
wasn’t the best when it came to organization so that was something that I had to work on. I was
given the advice to convey imagery a bit more and work on a more consistent rhyme scheme.
Well, I improved the imagery but I could not put together a rhyme scheme. So I decided not to
do it. This was another poem where I decided to make the stanzas uneven. I really gotten used to
doing that.
Seventh poem is named “In Every Universe”. This poem is based off of [somewhere i have never
travelled, gladly beyond] by E.E Cummings. I tried to write this in their perspective in the form
of a dramatic monologue but I don’t think I reached that point. However, the more I wrote this
poem the more I thought of my favorite Mandarin soap opera, “Well Intended Love”. The
second season of this show was set in an alternate universe and that is what inspired this poem. I
was told that I focused more on the similarities of this person in each universe and not the
differences. So, I decided to include more in each stanza the similarities and differences resulting
in uneven stanzas.
Last but not least is “Happiness Is…”. I wrote this poem after “That Day At The Funeral” and
“The Two Voices In My Head”. Those poems are really deep and upsetting and I just wanted to
write something happy. So, I wrote this poem. I also chose this poem to end because we all
deserve to end on a happy note. The first draft was to general so I decided to make it a prose
poem and add more detail but still kept the anaphora.
I hope you enjoy these poems and thank you for a great semester. I would also like to thank you
for not only making me a better writer but a better poet.
Thank you,
Aaliyah Bryant
The Two Voices In My Head
Two voices were in my head.
One
voice was
ready for me
to see the world.
Another voice wanted to
keep me away
from
it.
I was just an
emotionless
entity up
for anything.
On some days the pessimistic voice:

weighed over the optimistic voice. It tells me to wear loneliness like a comfy sweater, the world
has spikes that will harm you, and that I was already too deep in the water and I would
never come up. I listen to this voice grow louder and louder as the optimistic voice
grows silent. I wore this pessimistic voice. Its hushed and comfortable tones
telling me right from wrong. I convinced myself that loneliness will keep
me away from those spikes and the strangers out in the artic world.
Thus, I lie down in comfortable pain listening to the pessimistic
voice on replay. I felt safe but lonely. The optimistic voice
would try to pull me from the depths of misery but the
pessimistic voice was too strong and overpower it.
Thus, my cycle was on a constant repeat
circling around this empty void. I hated
the void but I wore it naturally. What
was this feeling of doubt rising like
bile in my throat ready to spill out
all the wrong contents? Why
was this pessimistic voice
starting to feel like this
uncomfortable,
itchy, wool
sweater?
I
turned
away from
it and listen
to the bright
and happy tone
of the optimistic
voice. It tells me
to wear friendship
like a stylish blazer,
the world was smooth
with safety, and that I would
always stay on the surface never
drowning. I continue to listen to its
happy as the pessimistic voice shrinks to silence.
I felt confidence from this optimistic voice. I was
blind to the darkness of loneliness and fear and saw
the light of passion and determination. I gave positivity
to others because I, myself, was positive. This voice changed
me. I could go out and breathe the fresh air and feel the sun warm
my skin. But for every sunny fresh air came this thunderous rainstorm pouring
on me. Ignoring and smiling wasn’t enough. I was surrounded by lies of fake plus
signs and invisible minus signs. This voice was not giving me happiness. It was giving
me false hope. A false hope that turned my world upside down and made me walk in the…
wrong way towards
toxic positivity
of constant
destruction
Where am I?
In a darkness
of lies and
toxicity, there
was no light of
the healthy truth.
When I thought
I was walking
forward, I was
falling backwards.
In a sea of strangers,
I was a shadow.
Where was my voice?
The voice that always
told me the truth whether
it filled me with sweet joy,
or sunk me deep into
the lost abyss of pain.
The voice that used both
addition and subtraction.
Then, there it was
between the strong
voices. It cowered
in fear thinking no
one would listen to
it. I pushed the other
voices out the way
and carried the rare
and precious voice.
This voice is small,
but has potential to grow.
This voice whispers,
but potential to speak out.
This voice is in chains,
but has potential to be free.
I saw myself in this voice
No, I am this voice
The voice that should be
guiding me is…me.
This is true freedom
I am being myself as
a rose in a bed of tulips.
In this world, I see
positive light and
negative darkness.
In the same world,
I had potential to
grow, speak, and
be who I am.
And I am me and
I always will be
Black or White
Black?
White?
What am I?
I am a really dark grey because I was mostly black mixed with a little white. However, the
whiteness in me was unknown so I just said I was black. I live in a world where people decide
that you are either black or white and there were rules for that. When black people saw me they
said that my voice and personality was not black so they sent me away. When white people said
that my voice and personality was not black, the immediately accepted me and said, “You’re not
like other black people.” Since that was something everyone said, including black people, I just
shrugged it off and moved. Everyone painted me white and I was okay with this because no one
taught me different. All everyone has ever given me was white paint. Why didn’t I get any black
paint? Why should my voice and personality be a certain way in order to be painted a specific
color? So because this has frustrated me often, I decided to paint myself clear. I thought that we
put so much into colors that maybe the world would be a better place if we didn’t see them.
However, with the clear paint, you can always see through it. That’s when I learned that we
should stop painting ourselves a specific color. We should just be our true colors no matter our
voices and personalities. Our colors don’t define our voice and personality, they define our
history. Not every black person is the same and not every white person is the same. We all have
our differences but different is not bad. So let us work together and paint history with different
colors. There are black, white, and grey people in the world and I am…
Downhill
When all the good starts to happen
I’m on top of the world ready to take
it on yet this anchor is weighing me
down as if I don’t deserve it
Then bad things happen and all of a
sudden drowning wondering if I’m
ever gonna come up for my last breath
It seems that I deserve it
but my thoughts are pulling
me deeper as they rush around
me like roaring waves and I can’t
fight them because they are too
powerful and I’m still drowning
yet somehow I freeze them and
escape and leave them behind
I thought others would see me
However that was not the case
They walked right through me
Deaf to the words I spoke
I was blind to their rejection
So I start at the bottom of the hill
Climbing up eager to see the world
Almost there reaching the top then
I make it and I see all the problems
I dealt with that are now far away
Until I go downhill
Falling falling falling
Feeling the pain hit every
part of my body the problems
run up to me and beat me harder
Then that drowning feeling comes back
And the same thing happens all over again
I finally hit ground yet I’m still spiraling
My spirals are coming close to an end
When I hit the breaking point
Will I go pass it and repeat this pain
Or finally acknowledge that this hill is
a part of my rollercoaster called life
At the bottom of the hill
my fragile self was broken
into pieces yet I’m the only
one who could put myself
back together and as I put
each piece in its spot together
like a puzzle I recognized myself
Of course it is not a smooth picture
It has cracks creases and damage
But now I know how to fall apart
and put myself back together again
So I climb uphill
I’m at the high peak
I brace the cool wind
feel the warmth of the sun
look at the depth of sky with no limits
Once I fall downhill again
I piece myself together
And try again
That Day At The Funeral
The end of our relationship
was the day of your funeral
It was clearest day of my life
I breathe in the fresh air as
the sunny sky warms my skin
I wore my grey dress because
I couldn’t decide between
black, the color of sadness
or white, the color of joy
So I went with bittersweet
bitter memories filled my
mind with excruciating pain
I felt sweet freedom finally
being away from your toxicity
I walked to your casket
Saw your corpse that
wished ill upon me
You would have rather
for me to be in that
casket instead of you
I looked at your frown
filled with my rage that made
me see right from wrong
Then I looked at clear sky
Your frown and that sky
were my exact emotions
I wish things were better
we could’ve had a
healthy relationship
we could’ve been close
held onto each other tight
and never let go forever
but you let go first
I was sometimes right
but you were always wrong
You turned everything toxic
You kicked me hard
with all your hurtful words
“You will never be enough,”
you said with raging anger
“I hate you,” you said with
spite on your sharp tongue
“I hope you die,” you said
with no regrets or guilt
I never knew how to respond
because words like that should
never be exchanged between
two people so close
So the words you exchanged
was the cause of your death
You are now a corpse in the
casket that is now your home
Now that you are dead to me
I finally know how to respond
to your twisted words of venom
I am enough and so much more
You may hate but I will always
love you because that’s greater
One day I will die but
you won’t be there to see it

Maybe one day you will

change into a beautiful angel
but my last memory of you
is foul and disgusting
and that is all you are…
a memory
Me
World under my skin
The song plays as I travel to find
A new start
A breath of fresh air
There for you to find
Then I saw you
However, the last you saw of me
Was thorns coming out of my body
Harming others in my way including myself
All I kept within
For the longest time
I kept my true self from the world
Drowning in fear that
Someone would dive in
And see the real me
Thus, I put up this icy wall so that no one
Including you especially you
Would see this scarred stranger of myself
Lay before your eyes
But I peeled off the layers of this “fake me”
Ready to show you my authentic and bare self
Because I can’t afford to lose another second with you
I’ve been waiting a long time
I no longer fear stripping myself down
For you to see
The only thing that triggers me
Is losing you… again
But now I am See Through baby
Take a look inside
What do you see?
A girl with scars from her dark past
Darkness filled with abandonment
No light of hope to lead me out
A girl whose drowning in her own fears
A girl who loves you
Yet doesn’t know how to love
I am See Through baby and I don’t wanna hide
For the very first time
So take a look at this broken girl because
I don’t wanna hide anymore
Let me strip down to my heart
Be naked to the core
I’m giving you the chance to
See and understand all my glass shards
Love me for me
Forget the bitter wall that I was
All of me uncharted begs to be explored
Closed off once before
Locked with padlocks
Sealed tight from intruders
But now…
My gates are open to you
So take a look inside
Look through me
All over me
Every aspect of me
I give to you
I promise I’m not gonna hide
I am all yours in sweet genuineness
For you and for me
I choose to be who I am inside
Because how can I love you
If I don’t love myself?
My true and authentic self
Let me be me
Let me be me with you
I am See Through baby
So take a look inside
Love or an Obsession
Are you love or an obsession?
A question I often ask myself
Would I run away with you
Leaving behind my whole life
Till it looks like a star twinkling
Or bring you closer to me
so I can finally feel your comfort
As I sink into all your charms
Are you love or an obsession?
I see you every day
As the world passes us by
Life is right in front of me
Grabbing me by my shoulders
Trying to make me pay attention
However its attempts are futile
Because all I see is you
Are you love or an obsession?
I hear your voice continually
You’re a siren that lures me
to your safe destruction
Voices of importance surround
me trying to pull me away from
your golden songs that I keep
listening to on repeat
Are you love or an obsession?
I feel your presence always
It surrounds me like a warm
blanket finally touching my
cold and lifeless body
Your goodness sucks out all
the badness that clung to me
You were my light throughout
all the darkness I left behind
You are love and an obsession
Even though you’re my passion
I still have my stars of life
I still look up at the world
I still listen to the voices but
I always feel my love for you
In Every Universe
In every universe
You are different yet the same
Different career, different personality
Same looks, same love
In every universe
Your scent warms my body
The cologne you wear may be different
But the same natural scent puts me at ease
In every universe
I feel protective of your smile
Your humor may be different
but you laugh the same laugh
In every universe
Your lips fill my body with desire
Your taste may be different
but my heart for them beats the same
In every universe
Yours hugs comforted me
Your touch may be different
but they apply the same warmth
In every universe
We somehow end up together
No matter your differences
I will always love you the same
Happiness Is…
Happiness is Pentatonix filling my ears with sweet harmonies that courses through my body like
calming river of rhythm. Happiness is the stretching that warms my body as my muscles loosens
at every pull deeper and deeper within my body. Happiness is dancing to my favorite songs as
my feet hit every comfortable and pulsing beat. Happiness is the freedom from chains that
trapped me as my bones can finally rest and feel the sun melt their bitter ice of burden.
Happiness is clean, non-toxic, fresh air I breathed in as all the bad air is consumed by the
pleasant scent of positivity. Happiness is the movement joy no matter where I go leaving a trail
of smiles that hypnotizes you to follow. Happiness is the visual of strangers like as I roll in their
comfort of kindness and understanding feeling soft as I sink in. Happiness is the confidence I
feel in doing good as I climb the mountain higher and higher never looking down. Happiness is
the reassurance that I will do better like tasting the bitterness at first but finally it turns sweet.
Happiness is the close friends and family around me that wraps me up in that soft feeling of love
again and I never want to uncover it. Happiness is the stairs moving up infinitely until I am
blinded by the stars high up in the sky. Happiness is resilience and bounce back from a
trampoline called life. Happiness is the heart that beating representing every step I take towards
the light of improvement. Happiness may not always be there but happiness is the feeling I enjoy
feeling.
Original Drafts
The Two Voices in my Head
I have awaken with two voices in my head
One voice believes that I should go out and see the world
The other says that I should stay in and keep the world out
I was just an emotionless entity up for anything
On some days the pessimistic voice is stronger than the optimistic
It tells me that alone is easier, the world is dangerous, and I would always lose
And I listen to it as it drowns out the optimistic voice that says it is wrong
I found comfort in this pessimistic voice
I convinced myself that I will always be alone in this dangerous world that I lost to
It was harder to understand these strangers better than me out in this cold world
Thus I lie in bed listening to the pessimistic voice on replay
I was safe but alone as the voices battled but the pessimistic voice always won
Thus my cycle was on a constant repeat circling around this empty void
I hated the void but I was taught that it was comfortable
What was this feeling of doubt rising in me that was saying this was wrong?
Why am I suddenly no longer finding comfort in this pessimistic voice?
I turn away from it and listen to the optimistic voice for a change
It tells me friends were fun, the world is safe, and I would always win
I listen to this voice for a change as the pessimistic crouches in fear
Thus I gained confidence in this optimistic voice
I see things in a new light and no matter the scenery everything was just great
I treated others better because I could love and take care of myself in a new way
The optimistic voice brought out this new me
I could go out and breathe the fresh air and feel the sun warm my skin
But for every sunny fresh air came this thunderous rainstorm pouring on me
Then I knew I was living a lie in this fake and toxic positivity
The one voice that gave me joy and happiness was giving false hope
A false hope that turned my world upside down and made me walk the wrong way
Where was the the light in this darkness?
If I was walking down, where was up?
In the seas of people I tried to be, where was I?
Where was my voice?
The voice that was realistic and told me the truth no matter what
The voice that would guide me through all positives and negatives
Then there it was between the overpowered voices
It cowered in fear thinking that no one would listen to it
I pushed the other voices out of the way to retrieve it at once
This voice was small but had the potential to grow
This voice was quiet but had the potential to speak out
This voice was chained up but had the potential to be free
I saw myself in this voice
No, I was this voice
The voice that should be guiding me is…me
This was true freedom instead of everything telling me how I should be
I saw the world in the best and worst ways that anyone could imagine
And in this world, I had the potential to grow and speak out
I am freedom and the voice that will be guiding me from now on
Black or White?
Black?
White?
What am I?
I was painted black all my life. However, 25% of myself is really white. My mom was half black
and half white but because she was given to two black strangers, she too was painted black. One
of the black strangers was estranged from his white mother so he too painted himself black
ignoring his white side. So therefore, my mother was painted black and I was painted black.
I could always see through my mom’s black paint. I kinda just always knew. So if she had this
white side then I had this white side, right? However, my father convinced me that her black
paint was real but I always knew something…
I went to school with my black paint but the black kids said I wasn’t actually black. They
ignored the black paint and they just saw my personality. They deemed that I didn’t sound black.
They deemed that I didn’t act black. They deemed the art that I was engrossed in was not black.
Therefore, I was not black. So, they sent me away.
I went to the white kids. They stared deep into my personality. They deemed that I didn’t sound
black. They deemed that I didn’t act black. They deemed the art that I was engrossed in was not
black. Therefore, I was not black. So, they took me in. They said to me, “You’re not like other
black people.” And because the black people told me the same thing, I believed it. No one told
me right from wrong, so I went with the flow.
I was always confused why a black girl was among the white people yet her own race, rejected
her. Then my mother wiped off her black paint and wiped off my black paint and revealed to us
that she was half black and half white and that I was 25% white. Exciting news. It explained so
much. Why I sounded white. Why I acted white. Why the art I was engrossed in was white. I had
white in me and I wanted to embrace it show it to the world. My sister would try to put the black
paint back on me but I would reject it. This was who I was now!
I go off to show my white side. I knew I was still 75% black and but it just seems that this white
side was something everyone focused on. They didn’t care about my black side because of how I
acted, how my personality was, the art I was engrossed in. All those people have painted me
white because they thought my personality made my race. And I believed them.
I was constantly reminded that I was white, I was white, I was white.
I had to remind them only 25%, only 25%, only 25%.
White
25%
White.
25%.
White!
25%!
But it didn’t matter because to every single person, I was always reminded that was white girl.
So I scrubbed myself hard, harder, so hard until my real color was gone. Until there was no
color. I saw no color. I forced myself to see no color. Everyone I saw was colorless. That way,
our identities could rely on personalities, not on the color of our skins.
Eventually, my real color would return no matter how hard I scrubbed. Eventually, I would have
to see color again but I didn’t want to! I didn’t want race to define my personality. I just wanted
to be me. However, the weirdest thing is no one was focusing on my real race. Instead, they saw
my personality and painted me the color that I matched my personality. They painted me with
white paint.
I washed off the paint.
Who said that I had to be white because my voice was high pitched and I talked oh so
intelligently?! Who said I had to be white because I had a bubbly personality?! Who said I had to
be white because I listen to pop music and I loved watching romance movies?!
I am black! That’s it! I do have 25% of white in me but white people in my family were
nonexistent. I don’t know my white history. The only history I know was the history that was
taught in schools. They paint that history white because they believed black history was tainted
and would poison our schools. They said that my history was tainted. So I was painted because I
was different from the way that history portrayed us.
Well, no more!
No more will I paint myself any color because the color I have is my own color I will embrace
this color. Look at me! See me! Do I look 100% white to you?! Well, I’m not! I’m black! Open
your eyes and see my real color. Stop focusing on what makes a person black! Stop focusing on
what makes a person white! Because the color you see is the color I am.
I am…
Downhill
When all good starts to happen
It seems too good to be true
When all bad starts to happen
I don’t know what to do
It seems that I deserve it
But there is something more to it
Don’t know how to stop it
I am shocked, make it stop, put it in a door and lock it
All my life, I tried to be impressive
But I got the same response every time
No one cares, No one responds
But I didn’t notice because I was so blind
When everything goes up
I’m on top of the world
When positives come to me
I’m still that same pessimistic girl
So from here, I go downhill
This is how I feel
Just can’t seem to chill
Guess that’s the deal
So when all spirals down
And I move closer to the ground
Do I just let it be?
Or do I finally accept me for me?
I’m broken to pieces
I’m the only one that can pick it up
When will I finally see
I’m not perfect but that’s good with me
And I know
I’m not one hundred percent
But I know
I can get through this
When all the good has happened
I accept it, I deserve it
When all the bad has happened
I accept it and I learn from it
That Day at the Funeral
That day at the funeral was the clearest day of my life
I realized the difference between healthy and toxic
I stared at the corpse that wished ill upon me
It would rather for me to be in that casket instead of it
That day I realized the corpse would only be a memory
Bad memories that filled my veins with rage yet understanding
This rage made me see right from wrong
I was in the right sometimes but it was always in the wrong
That day was bittersweet when that body became a corpse
Bitter memories that filled my mind with pain
Wanting to be farther and farther and farther away from it
Sweet freedom when I have finally cut all the ties
That day will always remain with me no matter what
I will have no idea how the corpse would rot
For all I know the corpse may rise to be a beautiful angel
But my last memory of it will always be foul and disgusting
World under my skin
The song plays as I travel to find
A new start
A breath of fresh air
There for you to find
Then I saw you
However, the last you saw of me
Was thorns coming out of my body
Harming others in my way including myself
All I kept within
For the longest time
I kept my true self from the world
Drowning in fear that
Someone would dive in
And see the real me
Thus, I put up this icy wall so that no one
Including you especially you
Would see this scarred stranger of myself
Lay before your eyes
But I peeled off the layers of this “fake me”
Ready to show you my authentic and bare self
Because I can’t afford to lose another second with you
I’ve been waiting a long time
I no longer fear stripping myself down
For you to see
The only thing that triggers me
Is losing you… again
But now I am See Through baby
Take a look inside
What do you see?
A girl with scars from her dark past
A girl whose drowning in her own fears
A girl who loves you very much
Yet doesn’t know how to love
I am See Through baby and I don’t wanna hide
For the very first time
So take a look at this broken girl because
I don’t wanna hide anymore
Let me strip down to my heart
Be naked to the core
I’m giving you the chance to
See and understand all my glass shards
Love me for me
Forget the bitter wall that I was
All of me uncharted begs to be explored
Closed off once before
Locked with padlocks
Sealed tight from intruders
But now…
My gates are open to you
So take a look inside
Look through me
All over me
Every aspect of me
I give to you
I promise I’m not gonna hide
I am all yours in sweet genuineness
For you and for me
I choose to be who I am inside
Because how can I love you
If I don’t love myself?
My true and authentic self
Let me be me
Let me be me with you
I am See Through baby
So take a look inside
Love or obsession?
Are you love or an obsession?
A question I often ask myself?
Do I care for you more than others
Or is it a healthy balance?

Are you love or an obsession?

I look at you everyday
When I should be looking at my homework
Probably resulting in a failing grade

Are you love or an obsession?

I listen to you everyday
When I should be listening to the teacher
Probably missing something important

Are you love or an obsession?

I feel your presence in music
I forget about all the bad things
When I can just listen to you

You’re love and an obsession

Because I am very passionate about you
Even though I get carried away
Either way, I’m glad I found you
In Every Universe
In every universe
You have the same eyes
They protected me and kept me safe
I felt at ease every time I looked into them
In every universe
I could smell the same cologne you wear
The scent filled me with serotonin
Gave me more warmth than a blazing fire
In every universe
You laugh the same laugh
Hearing you be happy makes me feel the same
I will protect that smile with all my heart
In every universe
Your lips taste the same
The taste of cherry cola that once filled your tastebuds
Was now filling my whole body with desire to kiss you more
In every universe
Your hugs still felt like love
Love because they comforted me on every bad day
Love because you love me
In every universe
You are different yet the same
No matter the changes to your career or look
I will always love you the same
Happiness Is The…
Happiness is the Pentatonix that fills my ears with joy
Happiness is the stretching that warms my body
Happiness is the dancing to my favorite songs
Happiness is the freedom from the chains that trapped me
Happiness is the breath of clean, non-toxic, fresh air
Happiness is the movement of joy no matter where I go
Happiness is the visual of all the strangers like me
Happiness is the confidence I feel in doing good
Happiness is the reassurance that I will do better
Happiness is the close friends and family around me
Happiness is the stairs moving up and up
Happiness is the resilience and the bounce back
Happiness is the heart that still keeps beating
Happiness is the feeling that may not always be there but
Happiness is the feeling that I enjoy feeling