All Nonfiction
- Bullying
- Books
- Academic
- Author Interviews
- Celebrity interviews
- College Articles
- College Essays
- Educator of the Year
- Heroes
- Interviews
- Memoir
- Personal Experience
- Sports
- Travel & Culture
All Opinions
- Bullying
- Current Events / Politics
- Discrimination
- Drugs / Alcohol / Smoking
- Entertainment / Celebrities
- Environment
- Love / Relationships
- Movies / Music / TV
- Pop Culture / Trends
- School / College
- Social Issues / Civics
- Spirituality / Religion
- Sports / Hobbies
All Hot Topics
- Bullying
- Community Service
- Environment
- Health
- Letters to the Editor
- Pride & Prejudice
- What Matters
- Back
Summer Guide
- Program Links
- Program Reviews
- Back
College Guide
- College Links
- College Reviews
- College Essays
- College Articles
- Back
Next Time
I heard the news, I heard the prayers, I heard the whispers in the hall
You sung the blues, signed that final paper, and off a cliff you walked
A star in the sky, a periwinkle one in millions, smiling down at those left,
One among the five, brought down by opinion, they claimed it cardiac arrest
Perhaps in life we’re all just unwelcome guests.
And I didn’t even know you, didn’t even show you
All the lives you changed, all the days you made,
What is there to tell, besides that you’ve done well,
We never even spoke, to me you are a ghost
To them you were the world.
Next hurt, next hope, next heart, next home
Next time will it be someone whose music helped me grow?
Next time will I sob when I hear a C#6 note?
Next time will I mourn both the name and the soul?
Next, where are you going? Where did you go?
Next blood, next bet, next break, next breath
Next time, will it be a familiar face that dives without a net?
Next time, will it be another little girl in a grown up’s dress?
Next time, will it even be enough to try to do our best?
After next time, will anyone be left?
I walked that road, I walked that way, I walked until my heels snapped
You went alone, gave in to pain, I miss like hell that unique laugh
A solar eclipse, a deep aqua glow, a dandelion buried in the dirt,
A final wish, a heavy snow can’t wash away this hurt
Perhaps that would only make it worse
And I didn’t even know you, didn’t even show you
All the lives you changed, all the days you made,
What is there to tell, besides that you’ve done well,
We never even spoke, to me you are a ghost
To them you were the world.
Next way, next week, next win, next war
There’s no winning when perfection is what you’re fighting for,
There’s no way back when we’re trapped in the time of the dinosaurs
There’s no more of our pages to fill when they’re constantly torn
There’s just a peachy keen memory that breaks me to my core.
Next fall, next faint, next find, next fate
There’s only empty shoes left on the ballet stage
There’s our blue night stories in this blue flame
There is still a sign in this rainy day
They sullied your name, we loved you too late
I played the songs, I played the tracks, I played that voice in my dreams
You thought it wrong, you can’t come back, so why did you leave?
A crescent wanes, a spring breeze coming, will change fly on the air?
A whisper fades, trapped in the bubbles, are you listening from out there?
Perhaps we can make them care.
And, no, I don’t even know you, I don’t even show you
All the lives you change, all the days you make,
Perhaps you can’t tell, but I promise you’ve done well,
We’ve never even spoke, but Annyeonghi Gaseyo,*
Because to us you are the world.
Next love, next life, next laugh, next lie
Left to wonder, left to blunder my way through the midnight
Left to miss, left to wish I could ask for one more clever rhyme
Left with pieces that a genius couldn’t glue into a dime
All you say is Miyane*, but all we ask is no goodbye.
Next turn, next try, next time, next talk
I left my violet heart to the beautiful goblins you left lost
They left camellias on the steps on their evening walk
You left the hands 12:18 on that gloomy clock
What’s left? Only the word Gamsahamnida.*
*Annyeonghi Gaseyo (Goodbye; literally, “go in peace”)
Miyane (I’m sorry)
Gamsahamnida (Thank you)
Similar Articles
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
This article has 0 comments.
This piece was inspired by the death of Moon Bin, a k-pop idol, who took his own life on April 19th, 2023, two days before I started writing this poem. There are four other k-pop idols who have also taken their own lives (Kim Jonghyun, Choi Jinri "Sulli", Goo Hara, and Seo Minwoo), and so this poem is both offering comfort for anyone who feels grief for someone that they do not know and begging for a change in the k-pop industry as a whole. If you have time, I encourage the readers to learn about this idols for themselves:
Jonghyun: d. 12 / 18 /2017 (27); Y Si Fuera Ella.
Sulli: d. 10 / 14 / 2019 (25); Goblin.
Hara: d. 11 / 24 / 2019 (28); Midnight Queen.
Moonbin: d. 4 / 19 / 2023 (25); Ear Candy
Minwoo: d. 3 / 8 / 2018 (33); Better Day