and again by Ella Mevissen (14, United States)

against the black of night, the world looks so dirty and grey
a sickly off-white, speckled with dust and broken hearts,
there's no one left to save us. there's nothing left but the
nostalgia that lingers in the corners of dark rooms, among
the broken eggshells and cloths stained with the dusk.
yet somehow you still make me
raise my head to the sky. in the looming silence, your voice
echoes, the sun still rises.

---

so i wait for the mornings, breathlessly watching for
the first sign of a light that will lift me
from my fallen stance. i drape expectancy over
every discarded dream and fallen star, anticipation writhing
in my very veins. and as the sun brightens the very tops of the trees,
you take my hand and show me how hope never really dies
how only our bodies manage to stay hidden from the light
and even as the night falls, i hear you in my mind,
whispering through the calm, the sun still rises.

as the world grows dark once more, i force my lungs
to accept each tired breath. the moon calls to me but still
i grasp the curtains, i will not let it whisk me away
without seeing the rise of a new day. my cries lash out
fraying the edges of the world, taking hold of the darkness,
steadying me as i take another step. with the last of my strength,
i turn towards the sky. there, above the clouds, i see the light.

the sun still rises, again and again.
the sun still rises, again and again. [wait for the sunrise]
the sun still rises, again and again. [watch for the light]
the sun still rises, again and again. [and again]
and again. [and again]
and again. [and again]

and again

​