Road of hope

By Joonha Hwang

you can say it’s there and it’s not there

it’s like the road right in front of you,

just like it wasn’t there at first

someone made first footprints and

some more walked

then it became the road

it’s your hope

Friend

By Joonha Hwang

when there was no one to talk to

the wind came, became a friend

never asked before

as ever, waiting for me there

i’ll be thinking about you

The stage is set

By Aaron Hoimyr

Help me, hold on to me, great dreamer,

There are no stars in my skies; my nights have drawn cold,

And this crevice of pitch-black memories sets my stage,

Where the music plays its song, the dancers dance to the beat of heartbreak,

They dance through the heartbreak, desperately to attain your dream,

Oh great dreamer

Your stage of pitch black can only remember what has never come,

One that has never lost knows not what there is to gain,

What a stage is set for you, oh great dreamer,

What a stage is there for you to decorate with vibrant joys of tomorrow,

Yet the tug of war begins, as the violin plays its piece, the dancers dance

Through the heartbreak, through the murky storm they’ve been born

I beg of you, remember me when I delve into that pit,

Where one sees nothingness, a springboard,

An open stage,

Set for life to begin,

I see a place of shadows, a past of confusion and mysteries that rot the soul,

It plagues my mind with questions and insecurity

I delve into you, swimming deeper with no breath left in me,

I suffocate,

With no escape but to surface, what has sunk so deep within me

Within my canyon of discontent,

There lies truth

I beg of you, dreamer, remember me as I search and seek for myself within this,

This dark clay that moulds me, this rod that breaks me,

This past that creates me, I plead with you, let me remember you,

For without you, dreamer, I will lose my way and sink deeper into despair,

Deeper within the suffocating ocean of brokenness that overflows my heart,

The hope for those who dance to the beat of heartbreak,

withers away with every pace of my search,

For heartbreak is a broken lover that cannot still herself,

It searches desperately for an outlet, like the child in between,

A parent’s conflict, a tug of war of love, a manipulation to bring devotion,

A devotion to bring manipulation, that causes me to want to run

So dreamer I pray, content the dancers who dance to the beat of heartbreak,

For the crowd does not know what heartbreak sounds like,

To them, they dance to the joys of life, very beautifully,

For I will surface soon, and I will bring me back,

I will find myself, and close the doors to this dark room,

And the beginning of life can commence 

For when one finds himself and bleeds truth,

His heart beats freely, and the colours of life spill onto his stage,

The violin is replaced with an orchestra of flutes and woodwind instruments,

Which play whimsical dances in the Garden of Eden,

And let the dreamer within come alive with paintings of future love,

The future was before just a dream, where no stage could be set

Now the crowd will roar in applause, as the show continues,

With heightened enthusiasm and thrills,

And a surprise ending to this interpretive dance

Will cause all to remember the man, who persisted in his hope,

And the endless dreamer, who set the dancers of love to motion

Heaven's tears

 

By Aaron Hoimyr

I’ve been here before,

Covered with tears from heaven,

Drenched with its cool distress,

As the air breathes and chills me inwardly

Before you came I was alone,

Just moisture against my skin,

And the sound of the raindrops,

Pummelling the cushioned earth,

Prepared to receive the tears of heaven

If the ground were harder I would drown in these tears,

They would flood my vision and take me downstream,

Where everything seems to flow,

Nowadays

Earthly life never made any sense,

Until your heavenly tears made the brighter things

Disappear,

Now everything is grey

Were we not told you would come,

And that those days would be dark?

What happens when the earth grows too hard to soak in rain?

Would the cobblestone paths float in the parks

While lonely lovers were trapped on park benches?

The park bench is a lifeboat,

It is the only thing that separates them from drowning,

It traps them in unconscious irony,

Those who act to remain grounded

Are whisked away by heavenly rain

The ground is groaning with need,

The earth can take you in

The calloused ground finds ways to seep in water,

And each drop brings about abundant life

After every storm brightness is returned to me,

However, I am left with a different feeling,

Green grass reminds me why you came, fulfilling our need for life,

For green grass is my home, I rest in living peace,

Until I see you again.

God's beauty

By Aaron Hoimyr

Unto this break of day,

have I ever seen such a radiant glow,

These thoughts and wonders transcend my restless heart,

and the beauty of the dawn awakens the fragile earth

In this summer’s morn,

there is a becoming of this one’s restless heart,

mine heart of grief becomes this heart in sincerity,

all thanks to that which God creates

the gentle dew drops to the flowers,

clothed in everlasting beauty,

never to change their appearance,

but still, they hold such immaculate allurement

and still behold over the clearing,

the mountains they mock us with such

strength and power,

only overlooking those who look up to them,

but they themselves are overlooked by God

and in this summer’s morning I turn to my side

where I see the greatest of all of God’s creations

staring back at me, surrendering my heart,

I let my love shine, in thine own way,

in this, rekindling my trust with God

He hath created this world of wonderment,

this world lives in our backyards,

the miracles of the Lord stare us back in the eyes,

finally this heart of grief can see the joy,

the wonder of His might

This might hath created this allurement of the flowers,

and the gentle breeze that chills the skin,

but the wind still leaves us with a warmth,

a warmth of knowing that chill

was God’s chill

a life force from the heavens rains down its awesome power,

upon the weak, meek and lonely,

to create a world where the weak may become mighty,

and the devil himself cannot destroy us

unto the rising sun, the reflecting glory,

unto the radiant lustre of the still pure lake,

withstands this faith,

without such, nothing exists

nor does this day, be seen by all,

but only those who hold the key,

key of serenity fits this lock of faith

into the door of salvation, not many enter through

unto such a day,

i quietly whisper in the air,

“the Lord is here,”

and a gentle breeze chills my skin

Such are the eyes

By Alyssa Higgins

Eyes as blue as the bluest sky

You have ever beheld.

A piercing-keen glance that

Penetrates deeply into your soul;

As if He knows your every

Thought, feeling, idea.

Yet the gaze is not all righteous judgment:

compassion so deep it strikes

the heart like a dagger.

Love is in the kind, fatherly look;

A love withstanding every evil.

It spans far beyond the depths of the sea,

it soars through endless, heavenly skies;

it reaches farther than the East is from the West.

There are none who can break it,

“not with a thousand swords.”[1]

The eyes show a depth of understanding

unattainable to any who have not seen

the Earth in its very beginnings.

Such are the eyes of my Father.

His eyes are dark, yet contain

a light and warmth to contradict them.

The warmth seems to seep into your soul,

surrounding your heart with comfort and security.

These eyes do not condemn—for the One behind them

died for that cause; they are not careless or cold.

There is no room for cruelty

in the emotion, in the stare.

There is a joy and a promise of hope that seems

to spread straight from the heart to every limb,

leaving one almost giddy.

Drawing you and beckoning you

ever nearer with an invitation to know Him more.

Like an apple that falls

form the tree to the ground because of gravity,

so is the love within those eyes.

Your hurts are healed, your

pain removed; in just one second,

one heartbeat of a glance into these.

These eyes, too, saw the beginning,

beholding the Maker in all glory,

yet the person is just a part.

He is the Son; one of the Trinity.

Such are the eyes of my Saviour.

[1] Spoken by Princess Buttercup in the movie “The Princess Bride”.

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When no one is watching

By Karla Doell

When no one is watching,

The popular girl, the life of the party who seems to have it made,

Stands wishing she could have the courage to dispel her masquerade.

When no one is watching,

The jock, receiving scholarships, who appears to be carefree,

Goes home to be the family's dissension scapegoat appointee.

When no one is watching,

The counsellor and greeter, filling others with comfort and healing,

Just needs for once one person to come and ask just how she is feeling.

When no one is watching,

The nerd who eats lunch alone, rejected, and unnoticed when he drops out,

Stays home to care for his sick mother; a husband and father they are without.

When no one is watching,

The reclusive child who shrinks back, will not join in games, and is just no fun,

Lives with her uncle, abused, and cursed as useless, with nowhere to run.

When no one is watching,

That guy making everyone laugh, the quipster, comedian, the famous class clown,

Is a derelict son, spending nights in his truck, his only place to lie down.

When no one is watching,

The boss who pushes employees too hard, is cold and just a plain slave driver,

Mourns the loss of his family from a car crash, in which he was the sole survivor.

Only in the muffled shadows can one hear the meadowlark cry out like the crow;

Before them the fire-lit cabin in the wind-swept tundra;

The gemstone concealed in the thorny crown.

Watch, when no one is else is watching.

Love, when they feel unloved.

See, when everyone else is blind.