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VPR's coverage of arts and culture in the region.

Young Writers Project: 'Eclipsed'

Maisie Newbury, 16, of Weybridge writes about love lost on the day of the solar eclipse, August 21, 2017
'Soulsearch,' by Ava Kendrick/Young Writers Project Photo Library, courtesy
Maisie Newbury, 16, of Weybridge writes about love lost on the day of the solar eclipse, August 21, 2017

I spent most of today
Floating up in space,
My head in the clouds,
My heart in the air.
I kissed a solar eclipse
Right on the lips,
A secret that only we
And the stars could share.
I spent most of tonight
Fighting back my tears
Because after a long day without caring
I'm left with my fears
And I just don't know
How I can live
With the weight of the world
Resting on my shoulders.

Because I'm a sunrise dressed as dust.
I'm a moth drawn hopelessly to a flame.
I'm an iron soul, covered in rust
And I've only got myself to blame
Because you and I used to be us
Back when I used to laugh and dance in the rain.
Now I'm afraid to go outside
Because even slight movements bring me pain.

I would fancy myself a great explorer
But now I'm only filled with regret.
What didn't I see? What could I have done?
So I take myself back to the night we met.
We sailed over seas.
We traveled wide and far.
We flew over the moon.
We even touched the stars.
We lost ourselves in the moments
That brought us together
And we promised that we would stay like that,
Exploring the world and each other.

I came to know you like my own hometown,
Every street, every thought, every smell,
Everything was consumed by you
And maybe I'm crazy, or sick or unwell,
But I swear you used to feel that way too.
After my travels, coming home feels different,
After all that I've been through.
They built a new bridge,
Paved a new one-way street.
There's a statue in the park
Where there didn't used to be.

You aren't my home anymore.
In my absence, we've both changed.
I'll have to go out and find a new one.
We'll go our separate ways.
I'll build my house aboard a ship
And I'll sail off to space.
And even though you're gone,
For you, I'll reserve a special place
In my heart, in my soul,
In my darkest of days
As I travel miles and leagues
To new horizons, far away.

It's night for me; it's dark,
But for you it's a sunny day.
Living in different hemispheres,
We still love each other in our own way,
The way seconds love hours,
And the way September loves May,
The way silence loves sound,
And the way back roads love the highway.
Despite our differences we coexist
Because without each other, we'd both fall away.

So I hope that everything is good with you.
I hope that everything is great.
I hope that you're feeling well
Or at least feeling okay.
I wish you the best, I hope you know
In making a mess of the thing you don't
In wasting time and loving deeply
Of practicing ways to say how you're feeling.
I hope that you've found someone better,
Someone who you'll never have to say goodbye to.
But I wanted you to know that I miss you a lot
And a part of me hopes that you miss me, too.

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