I Take Back My Tears | Teen Ink

I Take Back My Tears MAG

September 5, 2008
By Lilyan Howard BRONZE, Tallahasee, Florida
Lilyan Howard BRONZE, Tallahasee, Florida
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

I take back my tears
the wasted years
I spent crying
for what never could happen

I take back my heart
my shattered heart
Up off the ground
and back in my arms

I take back my hope
wasted on you
and toss it aside
for it has no meaning now

Nothing you say
no words
no songs
can heal the bleeding wound
That you opened again and again

I walk a free woman
held by nothing of yours
and fly away free
as free as the wind



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This article has 535 comments.


Bacon. BRONZE said...
on Apr. 24 2017 at 9:09 pm
Bacon. BRONZE, Republic, Missouri
1 article 8 photos 17 comments
This is so melancholy and beautiful. I love it so much! :)

JennaLuvzYou said...
on Apr. 20 2017 at 2:49 pm
JennaLuvzYou, Los Angels, California
0 articles 1 photo 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Gotta love yourself for who you are. Just be you."

I agree !!!! very beautiful !!

on Apr. 20 2017 at 2:44 pm
urworstnightmare,
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
no ur poem is probs trash bro

Mushh BRONZE said...
on Apr. 13 2017 at 1:56 am
Mushh BRONZE, Karachi, Other
3 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"That which arises one's seductivity when exposed to infinity is indeed, The True Beauty."
-MAS.

Wow..
Beautiful :3

Mushh BRONZE said...
on Apr. 13 2017 at 1:54 am
Mushh BRONZE, Karachi, Other
3 articles 0 photos 11 comments

Favorite Quote:
"That which arises one's seductivity when exposed to infinity is indeed, The True Beauty."
-MAS.

Umm.. can you read mine too?? And well give a review and point out my mistakes? Please?

on Apr. 12 2017 at 2:14 pm
RebeccaMcC BRONZE, Dumfries, Other
1 article 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
'Some infinities are simply bigger than other infinities' The Fault in our Stars

I love this poem. I wish I could write as well as you do. Well done. You should be proud

on Apr. 11 2017 at 9:51 pm
makeupartist16 BRONZE, Johnson City, Tennessee
4 articles 0 photos 12 comments
It has a great flow. Awesome job.

on Apr. 10 2017 at 2:59 am
mlbryson BRONZE, Auburn, Alabama
2 articles 0 photos 2 comments

Favorite Quote:
"A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor."

love love it

on Apr. 7 2017 at 4:03 am
God-of-Wonder BRONZE, Pensacola, Florida
1 article 0 photos 1 comment
well done bravo

on Mar. 26 2017 at 10:27 pm
socialkaysualty PLATINUM, Dover, Delaware
25 articles 0 photos 37 comments

Favorite Quote:
Let us go then, you and I,
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table;
Let us go, through certain half-deserted streets,
The muttering retreats
Of restless nights in one-night cheap hotels
And sawdust restaurants with oyster-shells:
Streets that follow like a tedious argument
Of insidious intent
To lead you to an overwhelming question ...
Oh, do not ask, “What is it?”
Let us go and make our visit.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

The yellow fog that rubs its back upon the window-panes,
The yellow smoke that rubs its muzzle on the window-panes,
Licked its tongue into the corners of the evening,
Lingered upon the pools that stand in drains,
Let fall upon its back the soot that falls from chimneys,
Slipped by the terrace, made a sudden leap,
And seeing that it was a soft October night,
Curled once about the house, and fell asleep.

And indeed there will be time
For the yellow smoke that slides along the street,
Rubbing its back upon the window-panes;
There will be time, there will be time
To prepare a face to meet the faces that you meet;
There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate;
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.

In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.

And indeed there will be time
To wonder, “Do I dare?” and, “Do I dare?”
Time to turn back and descend the stair,
With a bald spot in the middle of my hair —
(They will say: “How his hair is growing thin!”)
My morning coat, my collar mounting firmly to the chin,
My necktie rich and modest, but asserted by a simple pin —
(They will say: “But how his arms and legs are thin!”)
Do I dare
Disturb the universe?
In a minute there is time
For decisions and revisions which a minute will reverse.

For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.



So how should I presume?

And I have known the eyes already, known them all—
The eyes that fix you in a formulated phrase,
And when I am formulated, sprawling on a pin,
When I am pinned and wriggling on the wall,
Then how should I begin
To spit out all the butt-ends of my days and ways?



And how should I presume?

And I have known the arms already, known them all—
Arms that are braceleted and white and bare
(But in the lamplight, downed with light brown hair!)
Is it perfume from a dress
That makes me so digress?
Arms that lie along a table, or wrap about a shawl.



And should I then presume?



And how should I begin?

Shall I say, I have gone at dusk through narrow streets
And watched the smoke that rises from the pipes
Of lonely men in shirt-sleeves, leaning out of windows? ...

I should have been a pair of ragged claws
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas.

And the afternoon, the evening, sleeps so peacefully!
Smoothed by long fingers,
Asleep ... tired ... or it malingers,
Stretched on the floor, here beside you and me.
Should I, after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis?
But though I have wept and fasted, wept and prayed,
Though I have seen my head (grown slightly bald) brought in upon a platter,
I am no prophet — and here’s no great matter;
I have seen the moment of my greatness flicker,
And I have seen the eternal Footman hold my coat, and snicker,
And in short, I was afraid.

And would it have been worth it, after all,
After the cups, the marmalade, the tea,
Among the porcelain, among some talk of you and me,
Would it have been worth while,
To have bitten off the matter with a smile,
To have squeezed the universe into a ball
To roll it towards some overwhelming question,
To say: “I am Lazarus, come from the dead,
Come back to tell you all, I shall tell you all”—
If one, settling a pillow by her head



Should say: “That is not what I meant at all;



That is not it, at all.”

And would it have been worth it, after all,
Would it have been worth while,
After the sunsets and the dooryards and the sprinkled streets,
After the novels, after the teacups, after the skirts that trail along the floor—
And this, and so much more?—
It is impossible to say just what I mean!
But as if a magic lantern threw the nerves in patterns on a screen:
Would it have been worth while
If one, settling a pillow or throwing off a shawl,
And turning toward the window, should say:



“That is not it at all,



That is not what I meant, at all.”

No! I am not Prince Hamlet, nor was meant to be;
Am an attendant lord, one that will do
To swell a progress, start a scene or two,
Advise the prince; no doubt, an easy tool,
Deferential, glad to be of use,
Politic, cautious, and meticulous;
Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse;
At times, indeed, almost ridiculous—
Almost, at times, the Fool.

I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

Shall I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?
I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach.
I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward on the waves
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back
When the wind blows the water white and black.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

i feel this way a lot too

on Mar. 25 2017 at 1:45 pm
Elizabeth25 GOLD, Ardsley, New York
12 articles 0 photos 9 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Anyone can be cool, but awesome takes practice" - Lorraine Peterson

I don't comment on articles often, but I must tell you that I am so inspired by this!

aman_rakhi said...
on Mar. 8 2017 at 5:28 am
aman_rakhi, Dhaka, Other
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Good and free writing...

on Mar. 7 2017 at 8:42 pm
Sofia_Gonz07 GOLD, San Marcos, CA, California
12 articles 0 photos 28 comments
This is so good, keep on writing. I was bored before I read this and loved reading this from you.

JennaLuvzYou said...
on Mar. 6 2017 at 7:44 pm
JennaLuvzYou, Los Angels, California
0 articles 1 photo 8 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Gotta love yourself for who you are. Just be you."

Very beautiful written :)

on Mar. 6 2017 at 11:16 am
CrossBow PLATINUM, Harlem, Georgia
22 articles 1 photo 18 comments

Favorite Quote:
Death is not the greatest loss in life. The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/n/normancous121747.html

Now on my favorite list.

on Feb. 27 2017 at 3:53 pm
Angelina_Best_Writer BRONZE, Spring Valley, Illinois
2 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
"Suicide isn't cowardly what is, is treating someone so badly that they want to end their lives"

This is really good work!

on Feb. 25 2017 at 3:51 pm
GraceTaylor12 BRONZE, Coopersburg, Pennsylvania
4 articles 0 photos 10 comments

Favorite Quote:
"You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost." -Martha Graham

This is amazing! Good work!

iiris SILVER said...
on Feb. 24 2017 at 3:14 am
iiris SILVER, Tirane, Other
5 articles 0 photos 7 comments
I love this!

on Feb. 23 2017 at 12:51 pm
HenriksenM SILVER, Tirana, Other
7 articles 0 photos 14 comments
Powerful piece

on Feb. 23 2017 at 8:23 am
AditiVibgyor BRONZE, Bhopal, Other
4 articles 0 photos 10 comments
Wow...this is so beautiful :)