The Snow Song Akshat Iyer

I wake up, again, and again, in this room

The school is about to lead to my doom

But there are some days where that goes away

It's almost like it's a holiday

When the ground is white, and covered with snow

And roads are black, which makes it hard to go,

The day that every child hopes for

But will it ever, will it ever

Snow

Will it fall on the lawn that we mow?

I really want a snow day tomorrow

Otherwise I will have great sorrow

5 Tests, need sleep

I can't do this any longer 'cause school's cheap

I'm falling on my bed, needing a miracle

Divine Intervention, Help me 'cause it needs to 

Snow

Please fall on the lawn that we mow?

I really want a snow day tomorrow

Otherwise I will have great sorrow

I woke up,
And the ground was white, and was covered with snow

And the roads were black, which made it hard to go

The day that we all hoped for,

It has really, it has really

Snowed

It fell on the lawn that we mow,

I had a great day today,
forgetting about the tests I had tomorrow,

But then I realized,
I'm in the same situation as yesterday,
I still have 5 tests, and I need sleep,
I fell on my bed, hoping for a miracle

Divine Intervention, Help me 'cause it needs to 

Snow

Please fall on the lawn that we mow?

I really want a snow day tomorrow

Otherwise I will have great sorrow

Snow

Please fall on the lawn that we mow?

I really want a snow day tomorrow

Otherwise I will have great sorrow

Credits to the Autumn Anxiety Discord for helping me think of the refrain of this song.

One Day, One Day by Liv Przydzial

And sometimes I venture to a special place in my mind, a special place that takes me to where I want to be more than anything. 

* * * 

I'm in a Volkswagen camper van, one covered in tie-dye peace sign stickers and painted in colorful shades of the happy colors. Although the van might be blue, we were anything but that. All the windows were down and the pleasantly warm summer breeze drifted by as we wound our way around the Pacific coast. Music blared from the radio, replaying old songs from our childhoods. Everyone knew all the words, and we all laughed as we attempted to reach a high note. Everyone wore a smile on their face, and the slowly setting sun cast golden glows upon our sunkissed faces. The ocean just a hop, skip, and a jump away reflected the rainbow of colors infecting the sky. 

As we climbed our way to the beach, songs by the Beetles blared. Our hands in the air, our wrists crowded from all of the friendship bracelets from old and new friends, we danced our way down local streets. A blur of people milled up and down the boardwalk. The ocean's salty aroma wafted to us, mixing with the chatter of the people and the seemingly distant crashing of the waves. 

Perhaps the stereotype of the recklessness of teenagers was true, but maybe a part of the story was forgotten. Why didn't anyone talk about how liberating it felt to ditch the heavy burden of material things behind and live for the moment? Why didn't anyone talk about how much more meaningful each day was when you lived in and for every second of it? Why didn't anyone ever talk about life as the new, colorful, make-it-what-you-want-it entity that it was, rather than the monotonous, day-after-day blandness that society made it out to be? 

Regardless, as soon as the van rumbled to a stop, I flung open the door and essentially spilled out. My legs like that of a newborn fawn, I stretched from the long ride down here. Even the pavement was covered in sand carried here by a million people, the thought of which made me happy, because I was now a part of this too. I was already in my bathing suit, as where the rest of my friends. We would race to the end of this world and the next together, all of our steps in synch, our feet creating a dust storm behind us, each footstep resonating within the earth. The sand between my toes was so fresh, so raw. I understood what it now felt like to be in touch with nature, myself, and the people around me - all at once, and it was simply exhilarating. We plunged into the warm water, emerging with salty hair and laughs. 


It was liberating, to be swept off your feet and into the sea. The ocean was such an unimaginably huge entity of unknowns, a seemingly endless expanse of secrets that would never be fully understood. Perhaps some would find this terrifying, but I was actually rather entranced. To me, the ocean was full of contradictions. The waves crashed with vigor and anger, while all the life dependant on it hung in a gentle balance that something as simple as a minor breeze could sway out of control. As unknown and scary the depths of the water below us seemed, I felt nothing less than free, with nothing dragging me down but gravity, which didn't even feel as heavy as it normally did. 

* * * 

With our salty lips and soaked hair, we sat side by side on the beach, watching the sun rest atop the horizon. How big was this earth? What was beyond that line? Perhaps I would never know, but the beauty was not in knowing, but in speculating what wonders one could find in such a mysterious thing such as this. 

It was easy to feel satisfied. Feeling exhilarated, wild, and free, and ultimately falling asleep happy all at the same time was a challenge so simple in nature yet so unattainable and out of reach for those afraid to break the chains of the weights on their shoulders. 

As the sun dipped below the cloudless sky and the first stars unmasked themselves, my fingers strummed the ancient strings of my mother's guitar, the vibrations flowing through each of my veins and into everyone else's. We sang whatever songs came to mind and laughed when we all forgot the lyrics and came up with our own. 


* * *

Although I dream of such a mental, physical, and soul-quenching liberation, I know that the value in such a phenomenon is only understood with a background in the opposite. To be free, you need to be in bondage, an unfortunate cycle that nobody has strayed far enough from to break out of. I hope that maybe one day, maybe just one day, I'll be the one to go far enough into the darkness to find the light switch to happiness in everything I do, but for now, the most I can do is at least attempt to be happy in as much as possible, until I reach far enough into the dark to light up this world.

Fallen Leaves

Fallen Leaves

by, Jenna Marie

*Forgive my voice. It's no Grammy Award winner I know (there's a reason I'm a violinist and not a part of a choir), but I thought the lyrics had to be put to music to really appreciate it. Also, please note that there are many out of tune notes and the background music was a last minute composition, so it's not exactly perfect nor professional recording material (I am very sorry for any mistakes that may have occurred. They're still kind of bothering me, not going to lie, but it was so painstaking to record and I/'m too lazy to do it again, so here goes)*

The leaves are gold this time of year

There’s nothing dark, nothing to fear

My mental walls are broken down

Before I know it I’m prepped to drown

‘Cause the leaves are bound to fall eventually

And when they fall they leave you cold and bare

With each drop feelings are freed from me

This time I’ll build my walls stronger I swear

But the leaves are gold this time of year

And there’s nothing dark, nothing to fear

I hang onto this golden rope

I hang on until I choke

For the leaves are bound to fall eventually

And when they fall they leave you cold and bare

Forevermore I shall be free

No more cycles of endless despair

For I’ve been fooled time and time again

That autumn will not ever end

But every time I’ve come to hold it dear

The leaves all fall and winter’s here

Well the leaves are gold this time of year

But there’s something dark, something to fear

For the leaves will fall down after all

I can’t trust them anymore