“a strange goodbye”

To leave you behind is strange

Like the dissonance of two notes played slightly out of tune, Like sitting alone reflecting on a story of melancholy happiness, I will leave this place, this home. Far less on my own account for if I could be young for 10 years more, I would Instead I have wasted years of my life waiting for this singular moment to arrive and now that it is here, I wish I had never spent my days contemplating the future at all. It is quite strange to find yourself at the end of a journey. At times I am heart broken then numb yet in others I am awaiting for the joy tomorrow will bring. Not yet an adult but surely not a child. I am left in an unknown place Floating…in the interim of past, present, and future.

The Shoe

i want a simple life one filled with contagious laughter with songs being sung at the top of our lungs i want a life filled with summer rain storms going to dance in it without a care in the world i want to run around in the grass, barefoot with a lover at my side i want a life with annotated pages and old records one with tanned skin and freckled cheeks i want to climb trees scrape my knees one with dirt under my finger nails and flowers in my hair a simple life just you and me

13 burn

[watercolor and poem by amelia mlnarik ’26]

Stuck with this Emotion

Even when around friends

During every occasion

Unknown if when it ends

Lost feeling like a mess

Like dust almost

Knowing I mean nothing more or less

Even if I do my best

This feeling lingers

Like the smell of my perfume

Or the sound of sneakers

Not knowing what’s to blame

For this feeling like I’m insane

This feeling of being Alone.

[poem by aya khayati ‘23]

The four walls of my room are the only place that feels like home, Where there is no chaos, only the music of my records. My bed crowded with stuffed animals that embrace me, And all four walls covered with posters and my window sill with crystals.

My parents always ask me to come down but with excuse after excuse, I stay under my covers, Because the only place I feel safe is where I lay under the stars and moons that have covered my ceiling since I was born. Where my dreams and doubts run through my mind, and I can simply be me, free to breathe.

The same room I played with dolls after daycare is where I will wake up for my last day of senior year. The walls that went from bland beige to bright pink and purple, to a now pale grey.

The place where more memories reside than any other place I can find.

In months, these four walls will be replaced and replaced, resulting in a never-ending cycle and the only remaining memories will be held in pictures of the only place I feel at home.

Coral Reef

[watercolor by eden smith ’24]