Tag: teenage

the only one who can deliver you is yourself

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

i was never a loyalist to my homeland,

but when i saw the trees

that had towered over my head

in my teenage years,

i graced the earth with my knees

and raged.

to the girl sitting by the lake

counting good omens on stones

and stringing her worth on fair words:

the only one

who can deliver you

from your despondency

is yourself.

reflections written in the park i walked every day in during the most tumultuous years of my teens. as the trees have changed, so have i, yet as the trees have remained the same, so have i. leaving home with renewed faith in the only one who can deliver me: myself. 🤍

📸: cișmigiu bloom!

gasping for air in my bell jar,

Téa NicolaeLeave a comment

i long for closure and i crave familiarity,

melded thoughts and warm hands.

i am desperate to connect.

i want to feel someone’s soul

glued to mine.

i dream of intimacy,

but i’m clumsy:

when people embrace me too tightly,

i hiss like a cornered snake.

i’m wary of being alone, but

i drift away during conversations,

i ignore messages,

i break friendships,

i feign smiles.

i find refuge

in my bell jar.

every night

i close the jar’s lid with shaky hands,

hug my knees

and blow air on the glass.

*poem published in scan lancaster, february 2020, in the column ‘four incantations for loss, joy and love’. i wrote it two years ago, as part of my second-year poetry collection ‘teenage angst’. i aimed to emulate the restlessness i felt as a young, teenage girl. i feel so touched reading it! wish i could hug that olden version of myself.