Year of the hottest tempers, for sure.

Along with the highest temper-a-tures.

Mere coincidence, the Learned will say;

While others regard the signs of the day.

The missing piece of this mystery’s math

Lies in the two-fold nature of wrath.

In dreams does the rose bloom.
Wild and free, her beauty graces the land,
Bathing the dreaming in floral perfume,
Once more beyond the gates that stand
Between sweet chaos in life,
And the grand splendor of reality's end.

Daylights glow finds the rose amidst strife,
A vision in crimson glory as dark winds bend
And bind in the frigid world of the waking.
Vile beasts bring despair to her bed of soil,
Raining sorrow upon the soul that's breaking
To the will of those who in darkness toil.
Sweet sleep shall ease the burdened mind,
As the fantastic beyond beckons yet again,
Through sand hewn gates,
Into the deep waters of passions plain.

2016 taught me nothing feels as cold as the people you love leaving you. No winter, ice pack, or shower can startle and overwhelm you like the absence of a person who brings you warmth, energy, and purpose.

2016 also taught me how fragile the people we consider our rocks can be. People crumble. I wish I could see it happening and do more. This speaks for my individual connections here, and the world around me. I’ll work on it.

2016 showed me the world is unkind and broken, but there are enough people who counter that everyday, and I want to work alongside and among all of them.

There were many who believed in ideals,
Fretting about in their heels,
With bollards and plackards,
They marched and nattered,
All hell they would repeal.

ISIS let rip in the east,
Fear more important than peace,
Assad called the Russians
We heard the percussion,
Aleppo mourned daily deceased.

The climate was caught unawares,
When it realised nobody cares,
The smog came in strong,
Al Gore wasn't wrong,
When people flirt with despair.

Brexit was no laughing matter,
The public blind to what they were after,
Trigger at the ready,
It isn't looking steady,
For a kingdom with too many actors. 

Trump, we thought at first glance,
Didn't have much of a chance,
But Hilary's scandal,
Left the US at a stand still,
Now the world's in Russia's trance.

Farewell to the icons we'll pine,
Our culture was built on their spine,
Prince, Bowie and George,
With legends we forged
The moments that will surpass time.

Ireland became a haven for a few
Pity there wasn't a queue,
With a fight for corporate heads
Banks left dry and bled,
Tech an oligopoly? Who knew.

Aleppo left drenched with no fate,
The little reaction to late,
UN cries unheard,
Media reports blurred.
It's hard to keep up at this rate.

Silicon Valley is offering free food,
to workers becoming robots or goods,
12 hour days,
extraordinary pay,
But with no creativity they're *******!

Sporting greats made their way to the stage,
this year's Olympics causing outrage,
medals were plenty,
seats were empty,
And controversy graced every front page.

Here we go blindfolded into 2017
Only the wealthy living the dream,
while most young folk,
believe politics a joke,
Tell me, is it time for a new regime?

Lost so much last year
that this one is blank
and for that, I am thankful
Regrets no longer hold my hand
and walk me across the street
for I have learned through my pain
to use my own two feet
here's to a year of resillience
of thought and humility,
brilliance.


What will you do?

There are countless of things that the previous year has taught me. From how to travel to the city on my own to picking ears to whisper on. It introduced me to beautiful people, mesmerizing places, and hard fights. Confusing and nerve-racking moments which leads me to learn a few things that I shall carry with me to the years I will exist in.

1. It is okay to get bored of something you enjoyed for a long time. People change. My bones and skin continues to stretch and sometimes, some qualities & likes are left at the bottom of my feet. I can be completely different from who I was 5 days ago. Life never runs out of things to teach you minute by minute and you are not expected to always stay the same.

2. Never be afraid to meet new people. Whether they have a beautiful or horrible effect on you at the end of the day, you will be so glad you had them and continue to have them in your life.

3. I do not need validation and justification from others to know that I matter. The biggest love that I can receive is the love from myself. No one can ever understand me more than myself. I am a complex anatomy that only I can fully understand. I do not need a partner to carry me through life. I should carry myself. I know myself the best.

4. I am not an exception to being toxic. More often than not, I cannot see the effect that I make on other people. I can hurt others just as much as others hurt me. I learned that I should always be considerate of their feelings.

5. Coffee will never leave you alone. Through sleepless nights and buckets of tears, coffee has always felt like home in a cup. With every sip, I feel my body fall back into place and function properly again.

6. Love will come when it's time. I've always been impatient when it comes to love. I was always so envious of my friends who has sweet partners that would put a smile on their face. I wanted that, I wanted romance. And when infatuation came, I misunderstood it as romance & grabbed it fully. Then, it faded away and I was left wondering if I was that easy to get. True romance shouldn't make you feel bad about yourself. It will come and when it does, you will understand why the past was tragic.

7. He may or may not like me; either way, it doesn't matter. So I like this friend of mine and by the time I read this piece again, I probably don't like him anymore. He understood what you were, he just did. He found joy in discovering the comets and planets inside of me. I don't blame you, self, for falling in love with him.

8. Just write. When something fails, write it. When it prosper, write about it. I always had the fear that one day, I will lose my ability to write again. I am still unsure if any of these musings mean something to me but I hope it means something to others. I will always leave my poems without an meaning because it can vary from reader to reader. Whatever the poem made you feel, that's its meaning. To make you feel something.

There is no doubt the coming year can be worst or better than the previous one. There are so many things to learn about someday. That's how life is, you suffer then you learn. And it's never gonna stop teaching you. Seize the year, folks.

On New Year’s Eve, 2015,
I cheerily wrote you,
From the other side of the world:

“’Tomorrow is –
The first blank page
Of a 365-page book.’
Let’s make it meaningful!”

On New Year’s Eve, 2016,
I wholeheartedly write you,
From the same state:

“Thank you for joining –
The same cast,
In the same reality,
On the same paper;

Thank you for living –
The same words,
On the same page,
In the same chapter;

Thank you for wanting –
The same things,
With the same pace,
In the same manner;

Thank you for sharing –
The same story,
With the same close,
In the same series.”

Even as the snow
Falls white blossoms continue
to bloom on and on.