This is a poem I wrote when I was 18, as part of a study on sonnets. I included this piece in my final writing portfolio as a graduating senior. The words of this piece sometimes haunt me. Half my life ago, I managed to capture an image of despair that continues to be how I think about loneliness and depression.

The quiet dark retains this one belief

That he who lives a lonely life does crave

The lively love that bleeds upon the grief

Of dark and sickly hearts down in the grave.

A falling single tear upon my face

Is only one surrender to the pain

The breeds and bleeds to cover my good grace

And kills the lively love inside my brain.

I need to spit the heartache from my head

And wash away the hopeless bitter taste

Of lively love gone rotten here instead

Of grieving over dreams that go to waste.

Yet still I find the quiet dark remains

To burn my lively love in tears and pain.