When you turn away from me,
It feels unbearably lonely.
When you’re upset with me,
Your promise to never speak again—
It drowns my heart in silent waves of sorrow.
When you turn away from me,
I pick a single flower to win your favor,
Yet you gently toss it aside before accepting me again.
I wish I could be a flower,
To blossom along your life’s journey
And bring you joy and purpose.
When you turn away from me,
It feels unbearably lonely.
Our bond seems more fragile than a thread,
Yet still I wipe my tears
And strive to speak to you.
Your half-smile—the one you never complete—
Kills the breath in my chest.
When you turn away from me,
It feels unbearably lonely.
I vow to hold you in my arms forever,
To never let you be upset with me again.
Your hair—like dark clouds—frames your beauty,
And in you, I see the moon,
Making me forget the sky above.
Categories:
unbearably, love,
Form: Free verse
crisscrossing parallel universes
by some freak of nature
teeter tottering tumbling
to one side then to the other
in one world her home
Julia is unbearably lonely
a devastated grieving widow
inconsolable since her tragic loss
one day she crosses over to the other side
walking into a parallel world where
all is the same but for the accident
and her marriage never cut short
like a curious puzzle she puts pieces together
understanding that in this new world
she is squandering her treasure
taking for granted the man of her life
throwing away in one world the same prize
desperately grieved in the other
how will she balance the two worlds ~
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
(inspired by 1988 movie 'Julia and Julia' starring Kathleen Turner)
Categories:
unbearably, grief, heartbreak, husband, lost
Form: Free verse
Life Can Be Beautiful After a Rape
"I am the voice of your soul,"
Whispered a quiet strength from within.
"You are pure, you are whole, your heart still beats true.
I know the darkness feels endless,
And the world seems unbearably cruel,
But from the ashes of this moment,
You can rise toward a life worth living.
Trust yourself.
Because life can be beautiful after a rape."
I know you hate your reflection.
Your spirit feels crushed,
And time seems like an enemy—
Moving too slow, yet too fast.
Perhaps you've thought of an end,
A heaven far removed from this pain.
But pause.
Breathe.
Remember, the fire inside you still burns,
And you still have what it takes to live freely,
To live fully,
Because life can be beautiful after a rape.
You are not the first to face this storm,
Nor will you be the last.
The past is scarred,
And the future holds more shadows,
But your strength can break this darkness.
You don't have to bury yourself
In the shroud of disdain,
Self-loathing,
Or mistrust.
You can rebuild.
You can find light again.
You can create something beautiful,
Even after a rape.
— Saadia Syed
Categories:
unbearably, social,
Form: Ghazal
Don’t let the darkness sink in
Within a blaze of pain and of fire
You will be ridiculed
You feel how we feel
Hot and yet unbearably cold
With limited sense of remorse
No-one will arrive
You are your own messiah
You are your own
You yourself are your own judge
Your own jury
You are complacent
Yet you do not know what it means
You are the mask I wear
I fake envisionment
I fake the trust I put,
Within you
Believe in myself I say
Trust within yourself,
They say!
Do not give in
Within yourself is your own path
Is your own sustenance
Believe in no one
Yet they beg for yours
Do not give in
You are worth,
MORE!!!!
Categories:
unbearably, emo, emotions,
Form: Free verse
She always thought she was a cut above others
The most beautiful, the richest , the best
A self confidence unbearably arrogant and explosive
When with her, peoples patience were put to the test
Outer beauty, plastic enhancements, riches is all that mattered
She was insincere, rude and vain
Never gave or did for another
In her eyes other women were unattractive and plain
Committed to a lunch work meeting
At a restaurant by the sea
It was a beautiful sunny day
Being with work plebs is not where she wanted to be
Glammed up to the eyeballs
She reluctantly arrived
Disgusted at having to be even near the plebs
She went to have a cigarette outside
She could see the plebs through the window
Looking at them down her perfect nose
Hoping to be rid of these deadbeats soon
In their embarrassing low budget clothes
Her negative ,superior body language was obvious
As she stood outside full of false pride
When several seagulls flew above her and let rip
Raucous laughter heard from the plebs inside
Categories:
unbearably, giggle, humor, judgement, self,
Form: Rhyme
The clairvoyant could be a schizophrenic
or is it the other way around.
Mind cymbals of the mime must be unbearably loud
flowers are for glade and not the lapel of blue clowns.
Is it better for a stray to be forever chained down
or go running off with a pack of the unfound.
After death are we whisked off to heaven
or does the soul shatter against a Blackwall
the afterlife maybe an empty warehouse after all.
Is faith just a mirage for the eternally weak
or is it a gilded pathway to the purist of all kings.
Categories:
unbearably, nonsense,
Form: Free verse
Tension Spread Thick
Layering Quick
Mental Health Sinking And Physically Sick
Sympathy Party
Wounds Pathetically Licked
The Sores Of My Past, I So Dangerously Pick
Black Cloud I Cloak, It Unbearably Sits
My Outskirt Persona Convincingly Tricks
A soul Held Captive, Body Imprisonment pit
Happiness Rarely Appears Through The Grit
Broken And Bruised, Shattered To Bits
Accepting, I'm Far Too Gone To Be Fixed
Yet, I Face Each Day Pretending And Refusing To Quit
someday ill be fixed
Categories:
unbearably, angst, health, horror, how
Form: Rhyme
the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
so the rot in the apple must stem from the bark
the roots that creep and drain of life
keeps us sour; unable to mend
you ruined me and i ruined you.
i hate you and i love you.
i don’t know what to do.
what can i do?
i can’t leave you
you’ll always be a part of me
your roots digging in to my very core
and i don’t want you to let me go
but you’re so horrible—
yet so kind
every word you spit tastes like poison
but your touch is so intimately, unbearably, soft
i want to run away
i want to run into your arms again
i want you to beg me to stay
i want you to set me free
the apple is rotten, and what rots it is the tree
but how can i blame you?
even the oldest trees were
once only apple seeds
how can i blame you,
when you were once me?
how can i blame an rotten apple
for growing into a rotten tree?
you rot me, because it’s all you know
you’ve been rotten from the inside out
and now you rot me too
and i hate you
i love you
i pity you
it’s all the same
in the end, i will grow into a rotten tree too
Categories:
unbearably, abuse, age, analogy, child
Form: Free verse
Truthfully,
I struggle to be free.
Unbearably,
Some strive to see a sinking sea.
Anger wraps around my shoulder.
I pray; I don’t get bolder.
The world, estranged, keeps getting colder.
It’s been forever; I’m still a sailor.
Curiously,
I’ve been chained in eternity.
Amazingly,
They die in an ocean of uncertainty.
Sails descend upon my shoulder.
I pray I won’t get bolder.
The world, afflicted, stares in wonder.
It’ll be forever; I’ll be a sailor.
Categories:
unbearably, beach, ocean,
Form: Rhyme
From the brightest flash of exultation, to self strewn webs of sorrow
A passion of sparkling content, a heart unbearably hollow
Relive every sensation, ponder every sentiment
One pencil and a notebook can create a monument.
Categories:
unbearably, 6th grade,
Form: Free verse
Who dedicates the path of life?
And how long our walk will take,
I believe our destiny was assured,
Before we were awake
Therefore, the choice that path will take us
It is not given to us to make.
Why do some of us keep walking?
This often bumpy road
Sometimes, tired and weary,
Carrying a heavy load,
Memories of the past
Some good, some bad.
Uplifting memories of happy times,
And some unbearably sad.
Questions and more questions
Keep coming all the time,
As I trudge my long pathway
Realizing there are no answers,
Whatever people say.
Perhaps I have a lot to learn,
That's why I've had to stay
Perhaps those with a short path,
They knew everything there was to know
And their short presence on this Earth
It was to encourage other mortals to grow
Teaching us compassion.
Respect, love and strength,
The spirits of life
Who did not need to live long,
Their short lives,
Made the rest of us strong
What is the reason why we are here?
I have no more questions.
It's becoming quite clear.
Chosen to be the person I've become
Spiritually connected to everyone.
Categories:
unbearably, 10th grade,
Form: Rhyme
She was too real for my youth,
I was stunned by her,
she came to my eyes
so unbearably perfect
that her very presence challenged
belief in any other.
Her beauty seemed reborn in every second.
No longer was time my jailer,
no longer was I a chained thought
locked within a silent skull.
She freed me,
I became a bird in her hand,
there I flew to her fingertips
and sang ethereal love songs
songs that had never touched
the earth below.
Years later, cruel time cursed me
with dull black eyes
in which her star could no longer shine.
I forgot how to love her,
forgot how to be simple.
She had become an ice-figure
carved out of my unthawing memory.
It seemed to me there,
in my shallow grave of undying loss,
that she had never happed,
but it was I
who had never happened enough,
nor sang brightly enough.
Then the night came
to dig us both a place
to be lost in.
Categories:
unbearably, poetry,
Form: Free verse
The night was unbearably barren and cold
- annihilated details of the celestial bodies
Stars flung away by just a roar
Purple moon split as cardboard ... crumbled as a moth
The comet's tails were set on fire
catastrophic flames raged through the night
Naked marble statues with empty eyes that don't flinch
left behind the smell of aged conditioner and sweat
Their existence consequently cannot be recognized
Is the key of the present bound to the past ?
Their embrace instantly endeared me
broken hearts marbles lost the match
A dream I will never be able to document
I slept under the haunted night lamp
no princesses attended the ball
- don't kill my hero
Categories:
unbearably, angst, dark, dream, fantasy,
Form: Narrative
Life would be easy without you,
but so unbearably boring too.
Categories:
unbearably, emotions, feelings, love,
Form: Crystalline
Valentines
What started with two,
just me and just you.
Two simple souls,
with no further goals.
Found each other,
and fell for one another.
Even when things went wrong,
our connection grew so unbearably strong,
we built this bond.
Unbreakable is what it has become,
even on days where I am so high strung.
I hold you in my arms,
you turn off the sound of the alarms,
the ones that ring in my head so consistently,
I just wish you knew how much this love means to me.
I know I can show you, not just on Valentines,
but everyday until the end of time,
because forever you will be mine.
Categories:
unbearably, 12th grade, love,
Form: Rhyme
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