I recently discovered that the official term for a four-line poem is “quatrain,” and I have now written fifty of those! I was actually originally aiming to write a hundred or so, with the intention of releasing them as another book, but I’m at a point now where I’m leaning towards “retiring” from my artistic hobbies. That said, I’ll include the intended front and back covers of the book at the bottom of this post, just for fun.
Here you go:
1.THICKER
Not sure why I went back
To such a bad association
Nothing much gained from it
Apart from a thicker skin
2.NO GROWTH?
Not fair of you to bring up
Mistakes I made long ago
As if to imply that I’ve had
No growth at all since then
3.EVERY LITTLE BIT
So much help and effort
Dissolved in such little time
But every little bit counts
Or at least I’ll tell myself that
4.GETTING TO KNOW
Others see the flaws in you
And you see the flaws in others
But that’s the price that comes
With getting to know each other
5.ALL I CAN DO
Can’t be someone I’m not
The time for change is gone
All I can do is THIS right here
But MAYBE this is enough
6.JUST ONE FRIEND
Sometimes all you need
Is just one single friend
To give some direction
That can fix anything
7.SMALL THINGS
You know you miss a place
When you even miss small things
Let alone all of the big things
But at least you have the memories
8.HATERS
I must pretend that the haters
Who I no longer see or hear from
Simply do not exist anymore
For the sake of my own sanity
9.ME BEING ME
Sorry I couldn’t give you
Everything you wanted
I don’t have any excuses
Other than me being me
10.IN ORDER TO BECOME
Maybe you were meant to be
Exactly where you have been
In order to become the person
That you are, and still can be
11.SPEAKING
Keep on working
With enough time
All the hard work
Will speak for itself
12.WORRIES & REGRETS
I slowly awake in the morning
Flooded with worries and regrets
But alas, the day still begins
And good slowly replaces the bad
13.SELF-AWARE
You looked up to someone
Who didn’t respect you back
But they know they messed up
And they’ll live with it forever
14.SOUL-CRUSHER
Young souls, once full of hope
Crushed by the weight of the world
Now zombies, more than souls
Creeping through the cycle of life
15.MIND’S EYE
When you see something
Clear enough in your mind’s eye
You’ll eventually wanna see it
With your REAL pair of eyes
16.TO ANOTHER
For a moment I feel inspired
But then the moment may fade
Alas, we must all keep moving
From one moment to another
17.INTENTIONS
Not everyone is meant to be together
Even if they both have good intentions
Intentions are just the starting point
And everything else is up in the air
18.UGLY & OLD
Learning to embrace
The parts of my face
That are ugly and old
If I could be so bold
19.KID AT HEART?
If I age all alone
It won’t be aging at all
As long as my imagination
Still ages with me
20.WHERE IT GOES
Hard to admit I was wrong
And that I can only blame myself
For where I am in life now
But who knows where it’ll all go?
21.WORDS
The right word fixes anything
The wrong word ruins everything
Do actions still speak louder than words?
In today’s technological world?
22.BEAUTY
Stained teeth and ghostly skin
Frazzled hair and bloodshot eyes
And yet, there’s still beauty there
One that cannot be described
23.IMAGINARY
A face forever changing, never clearly seen
Almost like two faces at once, shifting
But each face brings upon something new
All together fulfilling what a real face could
24.CARRIED
A voice as quiet as the air
Carried through the wind
Only loud within my mind
And to my ears, just a hint
25.BLANKET
Warm arms wrap around me
Like a blanket with a pulse
Allowing the world to vanish
And all its problems with it
26.NUMB ACCEPTANCE
How can you even move forward
When you’re pulled in all directions?
Always rocking, back and forth
To the point of numb acceptance
27.LOVING ENEMIES
How can someone really love
If you won’t love them first?
Learn to love your friends
Instead of loving enemies again
28.TURNING
Hard to stop reflecting
As it turns into lamenting
But regret is inevitable
Offset by venting
29.BETTER
Mad at each other, and ourselves
But it all comes down to point-of-view
So I’ll let you imagine a better me
If you let me imagine a better you
30.HONEST ABOUT DISHONESTY
Nice on the outside
But the inside is mean
That’s how most of us are
And yes, that’s includes me
31.IGNORANCE
Ignorance is bliss, they say
But it’s too late to be ignorant
After spending so much time
Learning more and more
32.ALL OF THE ABOVE
Was it you who was at fault?
Was it me who was at fault?
Did we simply just grow apart?
I’m certain it’s all of the above
33.MIST OF DREAMS
Wish I could see your world
As clearly as you see mine
But alas, all I see are glimpses
Hidden in the mist of dreams
34.ONLY UP TO YOU
Others may not see you
In the way you think they do
But is it worth finding out?
That can only be up to you
35.JUST BY CHANCE
Wish I could remember more
Than just a pair of eyes
But maybe just by chance
We’ll run into each other again
36.BEARABLE
Good ol’ breakup pain
Never fully goes away
But at least with time
It gets more bearable
37.PROCESS
Sometimes the mind
Needs to just process
One thing at a time
Not two things at once
38.WOUNDS
New wounds bring back old wounds
Doubling the emotional pain
But when new wounds finally heal
Old wounds will too heal a’gain
39.THE COUCH
“Lazy couch potato,” you may call me
But who needs the rest of the world?
When instead, you can be on this couch
Escaping from all the annoyances
40.A BETTER WORLD
Some have sadder lives than others
But at least sadness can bring about
Imagination and art and whatnot
A better world can come from sadness
41.SEASONS
As kids we played in the leaves and snow
Now as adults we must rake and shovel
Just another one of the endless examples
Of everything we had taken for granted
42.WHEN OTHERS PAY
Hard to see others pay for your mistakes
And there’s nothing you can even do to fix it
Other than offer as much help as you can
But help can only do so much, after awhile
43.DEMON
Anxiety, temporarily numbed by small things
Like journaling, or walking, or playing guitar
But anxiety is a demon, immune to death
Can’t be killed, only numbed, over and over
44.NO SHAME
I simply can’t explain
Why I feel no shame
Without you seeing life
Through my own eyes
45.NATURE OVER NURTURE
Maybe you are where you’re meant to be
Or maybe you aren’t, for all that I know
But what does it even matter, at this point?
Do your surroundings REALLY change you?
46.FORWARD & BACK
Right as you finally move forward
Something sets you back again
All you can do is move on once more
As you did many times before
47.PHASES
From the innocence of a toddler
To the hormones of a teenager
And then the skillsets of a worker
To the vast wisdom of a senior
48.LIVING TO LOVING
You spent so long
Learning to live with yourself
When you should have
Been learning to love yourself
49.MADSAD
Can’t tell who’s coming or who’s going
A minute early, yet a second too late
Alas, I spent too long feeling sad
And spent too many times getting mad
50.LINUS
Being bright can lead to awareness
And awareness can lead to insecurity
But fear not, for comfort can be found
Even in the most obscure of places
Peace!
