...The story of a girl in London, England


2.18.2011

Simple Enough

-Shamae Budd, 2/5/11

It’s simple enough,

Isn’t it?


We knew each other, once.

In the summertime;

The sky made of soft blue felt and

Carelessness; whispering sweet nothings

And simplicities that lilted with the breeze:

Literature, art, philosophy… Casual as grass

And sweet as pistachio ice cream.

We moved, somehow, with a quiet understanding,

In synchrony with the clouds and the moments.

A rhythm—felt, not heard—which pulsed to the

Notes both familiar and forgotten. Light, charming…

Like the subtlety of side-walk-chalk in the morning.

Now faint, reminiscent, remembered,

As through a warm and hazy fog…

Which fills the mind,

But never the room,

As was its nature

Then.


And now it is cold.

It is bitterly, miserably, cold.

And we knew each other, once.

Didn’t we?

In the summertime.

But that is all.


Isn’t it?

Yes, it’s simple enough.

The Dust That Has Settled

-Shamae Budd, 2/1/11

Most days, it is the now.

It is the monotonous in and out.

But, there are days.


When I remember.


Days when the smell

Of old, green carpet

Whispers somewhere in my mind,


And I remember.


Days when the dust that

Has settled there

Is disturbed, for a moment,


And I remember.


Slowly, at first. A passing glance,

A glimpse into what

Has already been.


And, I remember,


Tangerines. Swingsets.

His soft, throaty laugh.

And the way the skin of his neck

Wobbled,

Back,

And forth...


I remember.

Companion Poems

The Drowner

-Shamae Budd, Fall 2010


“Oh, help me. I am drowning

In the sea of ‘this’ and ‘that’

Which is always flowing t’ward me

Over, under, and around.


Oh, help me. I am sinking

With this weight around my neck.

Every day it pulls me farther

From the air and from my breath.


Oh, help me. I am failing.

I can’t tread here anymore.

If something doesn’t happen soon

My strength will be no more.


I must give in.

I must get out.

But there’s no ship in view…

Forgive me if my fight gives way.

I want to float, I do.”


The Rescuer

-Shamae Budd, Winter 2011


“I’ll help you, when you’re drowning,

If you only trust my arm

Which has saved a thousand drowners

From the ocean’s frightful harm.


I’ll help you, when you’re sinking,

When you fear you cannot swim.

Your best is all that you can give,

Keep fighting, don’t give in.


I’ll help you, when you’re failing.

I’ll reach in and pull you out.

Only wait a little longer…

Never fear, though you’re in doubt.


You must hold on.

You must hold out.

There is a ship in view…

I’ll keep you floating through the night,

And you will make it through.”

Mirrored Looks

-Shamae Budd, 2/18/11

Sometimes, I look at myself in the mirror

And wonder who it is that’s staring back.

I run my hands along her pale pink lips,

Childish cheeks, and freckled collarbones,

Thinking how strange it is that she is me.

I gaze at her soft, brown eyes, and search

The depths for traces of myself;

But in the blackness all I find is a faintly

Curious girl gazing back at me,

Searching through my mirrored looks.

It is as though I spend my days

Looking out through a stranger’s lashes;

Alienated from the world by the body

That isn’t really mine.