Love Everlasting - Annie Barry 

Love everlasting.
Love is only lasting
when you put yourself last.
Kindle a love within lantern light flames and
let the wax drip to seal the cracks of your previously broken heart.
Redeem your wrinkled hands and
baptize yourself in the dead flower water you’ve yet to throw out.
Find yourself within the pages of the books you never read,
and learn how to stand by examining their spines.
Books never slouch,
nor change the story,
but they do exhibit plot twists.
And characters do dynamically change,
yet some will be as static as always,
no matter how much you wish they would change.
Take notes from your notebook,

​and you’ll learn how to live.
Annie says, "This piece was written in order to tell the reader that they can be taught life lessons by objects, stories, or even poetry. I wanted to portray a message of how broken hearts look for love in the most standard of places rather than people."

Annie is in 12th grade at Shawnee Mission South High School. The editors really enjoyed the ending of this poem and the imagery throughout.

*Picture provided by Pexels