family & friends – Page 3 – "2:25 PM" – Poems from Lexington High School Class of 2018

Kathy Xue // A GOODBYE TO REMEMBER

It has been a year but I’ll never forget,
what happened was a vivid blur
and I am still trying to make sense of it all,
interpreting and reinterpreting it again.
It was the shock, I was in shock –
I remember your eyes, they were ashamed,
looking down at the floor while our friends looked concerned
and I was smiling nervously,
or maybe obliviously,
and when you broke the news, I…
can only remember what happened after.
Our friends went outside to say goodbye to you
as the blinding sun shone through the window like nothing happened
while I was still in that room,
wrapped up in self-loathing,
tortured by the unfairness,
and strangled by invisible iron chains.
I am still there, watching as time walks ahead of me,
and watching you walk ahead of me,
and I am still interpreting and reinterpreting it all
and seeing everything I could have done differently,
and just maybe it wouldn’t have come to this.

Lina Jaafar // “SCARED FOR THE FUTURE”, A CONVERSATION WITH MY ANXIETY

“Scared for the Future”, a Conversation With my Anxiety By: Lina Jaafar One day It is small, a star in the night sky. One day It is the night sky, swallowing me whole, Turning my vision dark, my senses off-
I cry.
Cry out for help, but not aloud, I go limp. Maybe if I sleep the night will pass, But I keep it alive, like a drug, it consumes me!
Some days my friends light candles, I think the night is gone, but it’s still there, Sharp, cold, biting–welcome.
I hide,
Hide from all the candles so as to not be fooled, Lock myself in a dark room and the shivering stopsSeeing every miniscule light behind the window.
I turn, breathe a sigh of relief, close my eyes, Thinking the light is gone until I realizeMy friends-they’ve broken my windows, They’ve let the light in!
Mend the barrier, scared of the breeze, Of the silence that follows, Not at ease.
Running out the door, my friends at the party, “Why don’t you have fun?” It’s not that simple, you see!
It’s not that fun having fun When your body doesn’t want to have fun! Don’t you see?! Stop following me!

I try.
Try to let go, but of what? I’m not holding on, It’s holding on, that pest I can never escape-
Even in my sleep, when I wake, My most loyal friend, Always there to greet me-
Carry It with me like a dog on a leash, But who’s on the leashIs It or is It me?!
My friends, they say, “See the colors around you? Their glorious beauty spins about you!” “No”, I reply.
I am colorblind-
I see black, I see white, I see division, I see It.
“Are you scared of the darkness?” “No, friends, I am scared of the light.”

Eddie Jiaxin Zh‚ÄÜou // I AM WHAT I AM

I am what I am,
I love being myself.
I don’t change just because of what others think or say.
I stay true to myself.
I am not afraid to express my opinion,
Because I know that no one can change it.
I try my best at everything I do,
And I never give up.
This is who I am,
And I am what I am.

Aylin Bruce // SEVEN-YEAR OLD

Surrounding me are the monsters
The ones that pinch my cheeks
That dig their nails in
Leaving stained crimson on my face
Oblivious to the hot flush of my embarrassment Masked with obnoxious grins
They pose the grim question:
“What do you want to be when you grow up?”
After an unsettling pause
My tongue pierces the toxic air
“Everything.”
Discordant cackles suffocate me
Roaring louder and louder
Escalating like a symphony
Soon they resume their cryptic conversations
While I sit lonely and stare at my feet
Dangling above the floor
Wondering where Mommy is
Why do they think of me as a fool for my absence of grey hair When we can simply all dance together?
Your scorns
Will dwindle into ashes
For the future belongs to me

Hyungbin Kim // THE NIGHT WE MET

Pack up your bags
Gather your thoughts
Go outside and feel the heat

Mixture of red color roaming the street
Hitting their heads on the titanium wall, wishing it to fall
Bottles of alcohol flying the sky
Keeping the fire inside them, ambitioning freedom inside their mind Black crows filling the whole sky
Hold flags to the sky
Until they reaches the clear high sky

Red mixes orange and orange mixes yellow
Tiny flames gather and make disasters of fire
People rush out to the street as the signal of revolt
Fire never go off
Tiny bit of flame rising from the ashes
Get bigger with more flames

Until the corruption falls

Conner Lofstrom // MOUNTAIN HOME

He stood atop the white, vast mountain.
His home.
Covered in darkness
The wind chilled across the layers of life
the pitch black ripples in parts of Bear Lake.
His friends swaying loosely in the wind
Giving off pleasant drafts of sweet caramel and soothing vanilla
Nothing but silence as the falling of snow began to bow at his friendly feet
Every step causing the snow to hug to his boot one by one.
Walking towards a bright blue ball of light and warmth that rose in the midst of the white spects

Melting the hearts of living things around.
He no longer saw the dark ripples but saw them begin to
Transform to a teal and light blue body that freely flowed, elegantly making way for all in its path.

All except the friendly moose
gracefully eating the lush green
Wet silky moss hidden beneath the sheets of the ice.
As he stood up pridefully with his rack of enormous horns.
Light glimmered across the glassy lake
reflecting light onto the darkened trees
On the animals in the sky and on the ground.
An unstoppable force to be reckoned with.

If only he could be there to experience it once again.

Lihan Lin // WATCH BY MOM

A watch given by my mom
Tick-tock
Tick-tock
Tells me to save my time.

But I rarely go with him
All I want
Is not to be limited by it,
Limited by time.

I used to put him in a box
High on the shelf
And watch the hands goes
As time passes.

Someone might be sad
if I treated him like this,
I still think about it sometimes
Am I wrong?

Michael H // THE PLASTIC SPOON

The curve of the shallow bowl edge.
The smoothness of the handle’s end.

The plastic material
Which allows you to see through clearly.

The spoon is truly a wonderful tool.
Without it,
How would you eat soup or cereal?
With a fork or knife,
That would be a struggle.

The glaring reflection
That comes off with the light,
Shines in your eye
As you look down on the spoon.

They may only be used for a small number of foods
But they excel at what they do.
While a plastic spoon may not be very complicated
It is definitely very convenient.