THE BRIDGE

The River of Love (1st Position- 9th International Writing Competition) by Dieter Bruhn - United States

I am the river, the River of Love,

And you, the ocean blue.
Wherever my winding journey goes

I’ll always flow toward you.

 

Through storms that shake the gentle earth,

When lightning splits the sky,

And thunder wields its mighty roar

As weeping clouds pass by.

 

Through mountains high and valleys wide

And forests deep with shade,

My path is carved through earth and time,

Where destiny is made...

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Wandering Stranger (2nd Position- 9th International Writing Competition) by Syeda Farwa Batool - Pakistan

I thought I would call it home,

A place where names don’t fracture me.

But home,

Is a word that split me in half.

Gendered by sex,

Discriminated by gender,

Where do I belong to?

when the categories

don’t fit,

don’t hold,

don’t name me right?

A deep longing resounded within,

It echoed,

Louder than the language I was taught.

I step out from the familiar,

Out towards the unknown,

(familiar in the way pain becomes routine.)

I stand to take in the fresh, crisp, wet, smell of dawn,

As if something’s offering me forgiveness...

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Forward March (3rd Position- 9th International Writing Competition) by Merub Sheikh - Pakistan

Some days it is harder to get out of bed.

Some days an invisible hand guides me

up out of bed

to the shower

and back again.

But I make the bed,

warm up leftovers,

and watch what is left of my childhood

on an old rickety bulky laptop

that sighs each time it must open,

as though it too did not think it could rise once more,

that it could not fight the dust that threatens to gather on it.

I take it day by day.

A hard pill to swallow; a necessary means

to a necessary life...

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In the Face of Darkness, We Rise! by Ajwa Urooj - Pakistan

Yesterday,
Where was the burden of unfulfilled desires
And the broken dreams still whispered in the air.
Where the pain of past defeats lingered
And the shadows of darkness, once looming,
Still haunted our every step.
We all stood alone,
Watching the sun set
With faint smiles that masked the weight of the past.
But today,
Let’s make a promise
With a gentle smile
To welcome the new dawn...

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The Breath of Hope (1st Position-5th International Writing Competition) by Dieter Bruhn - United States

Open up your heart and lungs;

Breathe the breath of hope.

The pathway’s there before you;

Just climb upon the rope.

 

Pull harder than you ever have;

Escape the depths below.

Breathe deeper than you think you can,

As toward the light you go.

 

Too many things have pushed you down,

They’re heavy on your soul,

Making you feel broken,

And far from being whole...

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Eclipse (2nd Position-5th International Writing Competition) by Ayesha Abid - Pakistan

As the moon scintillates in the stygian night,

She whispers some silent words,

Pearls stream down her forlorn eyes

Her sight imperceptibly blurred.

 

Her faultless mistakes snooze on the bed,

she curls down on the floor,

Her body shivers as the lightening thuds,

then silence knocks the door.

 

As the glorious sun glimmers in her room,

With the noises of the birds,

She wakes up to the blaze of dawn

Her thoughts perplexed and whirled...

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Yellow Paint (3rd Position- 5th International Writing Competition) by rabeeya khawaja - Pakistan

The bleakness of November settles 

like dust on yellow paint. 

I wish to paint, but I do not find time. 

Over the days, the paintbrush will harden

like the pages of a book 

left alone, to the rain. 

Waiting out each minute

for something to ward off

the gray and angry storm,

or soften its rigid touch

to yellow paint... 

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