The Coward's Cry by Dia Bhojwani (16, India)

let me make this confession
before it strangles itself in my throat 

this is the only love 
i have ever known
clenched like a fist in anger
knuckles blanching white ​

---

your face bruises wine purple
and I still my healing hands  

this is the only love 
i have ever known
like red hot coal
smoldering in some secret furnace 

you say hello
and I choke down the smoke

this is the only love 
i have ever known 
dying a slow death 
behind a coward’s mouth 

you laugh like a bird
and the words nearly 
bludgeon their way out 

instead

i scream love songs into the wind 
and hope they carry across the water 

i scream love songs into the wind
but i never pick up your calls

​