Understood Looking around at these diluted youths As a thinker in a unthinking generation Observing and judging quietly With perplexity and fascination Wishing I understood them Their aggression, their elation I'm on a train going too fast And they haven't left the station Wanting, for once, to think like they do To go along just fine See the world through their eyes Or better, them through mine I wander the world too aware While they walk all but blind I admit I too have a dream to belong To meet a similar mind Friends are friends because we're alike They too see what I see But when lines are blurred and paths deterred I question authenticity Now I realise it's not important We don't all have to agree But I know that I am always understood Comprehended completely by me

Self-Worth Putting your self-worth in shaky hands Increases the risk of a fall Trembling fingers tentatively grasp But sometimes it's too small Your value determined by others' opinions People unskilled for the task Shaken and broken from words all misspoken But then my dear, why did you ask? Confidence isn't confidence when it's a variable Based on the comments of others Compliments, great, but when there is none Darkness tends to hover Doubt infects your positive state It poisons your rational view If you depend on the compliments You must trust the criticisms too Reject relying on others opinions And the risk it always lures If you put your self-worth in shaky hands They really should be yours

Humans Humans, Obsessed With finding success Needing a purpose To prove or impress Needing to be special To feel no more less To find inner peace Or outer, I guess. Humans, Content With letters unsent And feelings unshared And moments not spent Living in darkness So much they pay rent Forgetting the good stuff And all that it meant Humans, At ease To weep as they please To wallow in sadness It releases, it frees And all of the people Who have the same needs Forgotten in moments Where happiness leaves Humans, Look around You're not deep or profound You're not complex or mysterious You all hear the same sounds Stop taking solace in solitary You all stand on the ground Stop looking for belonging You are humans, therefore you are found.

The Road I once was travelling on a road A lantern in my hand Excited by the gravel and rock I'd only stood on sand The road was twisted and had no end Or none that I could see I moved forward eagerly Not sure what was to be I met a lady dressed in black She soon became my guide Only when darkness consumed our path Did I realise she lied She made a grab for my lantern Challenging my plight She damn well nearly got it but She could not take my light I looked towards the road ahead So much it had to say A mystery, a great unknown That I would walk one day So I turned around and headed back Dawn was soon to break Thinking of the woman, the road, And the light they could not take

Grief You didn't litter your lungs with smoke Or do a different kind of Coke Or trifle with suspicious folk So why was it your name he spoke? The guard came to our school that day He asked questions, had you run away? But I knew better, though they didn't say It was then my mind's fabric began to fray Everything everywhere became a sign Losing hope and losing time "Girl: Missing" became the line And when they asked, I said "I'm fine" Not moving on because of not knowing You learn to hide it, easier than showing Acting the part, sanity corroding Smile says different, mind exploding The news that came slithered in like a snake I was already broken but again, I did break As cliché as it gets, it almost sounds fake, They found your body at the bottom of the lake I expected relief to come in a wave But no, I mistook denial for brave Now grief has gone and made me its slave I do hope it's comfortable in our shared grave