Life

by Ester Zahaj   /  Smudged Words Blog

I’m still dreaming
For a place to run away
And I’m still hoping
For someone to show me the way

And I see the rain
And it seems so free
I hope to feel the same some day
To feel the tranquility

Flowers bloom
Children laugh
Dogs go yipping all way-round
It’s a never ending game
A world without an end

Even though everything seems to be just fine
There are people in the world
Who are trying to play God
Deciding who has to say goodbye

And these are the people
Who think of destroying everything nice
Hope and happiness
Dreams and gracefulness
Everything seems like a lie
We deserve a better life
Not one with war and banters
One with happiness because it’s all that matters

And it’s you ,it’s me, it’s us
It’s everyone we really trust
And it’s her, it’s him, it’s them
It’s everyone who’s trying not to care

Things might seem worse now
But after every storm there is a rainbow
And darling you won’t have to worry
About ever again having to feel sorry

  Amidst this Christmas Season, The Mane Post has a special gift for our readers. Ester Zahaj, an Albanian native, has contributed to our online news site this past semester. Ester is only 16 years-old, yet her voice and poetry display a graphic picture of the world we live in today. English is not her first language, yet the fluidity of her words is admirable. Furthermore, the intention and message behind her writing is inescapably relevant.            Whether or not the struggles to which she references align with your own trials, the pain and suffering perpetually emphasized are a reflection of the reality humanity faces both individually, and collectively. With rejection letters, injuries, illnesses, unmet deadlines, unborn children, absent parental figures, abuse, disappointment, fear and anxiety, each have seen what Ester has seen; each have seen pain. 
Therefore, Ester writes not just the story of herself but the story of us all: the story of painful humanity interrupted by eternal love. Now hope becomes as jarring as the pain with Jesus Christ offering a daily invitation to heavenly living through relationship and proximity to his heart. 
This then is the Gospel message, the Christmas message: that in a manger, and on a cross, heaven came down and was made available for both you and I. With this lens of redemption I invite you to read, the following poems. My wish is that they prompt discussion within your own circle, and urge a yearning for heaven amidst the broken world we live in.
                                                                    Thanks and Merry Christmas, 
                Editor-in-Chief Morgan Reynolds