This is For

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This is for all you fools

Who choose to stay alive

And blithely say the world

Is better before you die.

 

This is for existence;

It was never worth the time

To believe and feel the hurt

As reality falls behind.

 

This is for my heartbreak,

The one that cuts like knives

Not of men; the lurid creature,

But because I’m still alive.

 

This is for my thoughts

And the cuts I pierce on skin,

My aching woes, my worst disease;

The allegory of my sins.

 

And this is for the people,

The ones I will leave behind,

I had myself, I had my heart,

But the light I couldn’t find.

 

So move on without me,

As I know you will

Because time heals, to be no more

My aching blood is still.

The Valentine’s Day Post

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Well it’s Valentine’s day again. That wonderful feast day to celebrate the saint of love, marriage and strangely beekeeping.

But, being the bitter singleton that I am, and having never actually had a gift or a card from someone other than my mum on Valentine’s day (cue sad violins…) It’s only appropriate that I write a bitter post about the day.

To me, all these holidays and special occassions, Christmas, birthdays, weddings, mother’s day, Hallowe’en and even St Patrick’s Day have one thing in common; they organise when fun and happiness is supposed to be. And yes, there are many occasions that many of us have had great days, but there are also many where people haven’t.

Much like having a night out is usually the funnest when it is not planned, love is usually most honestly recognised when it is either unexpected or perfectly timed.

Don’t get me wrong, although the stalls selling roses sprouting up around London Bridge have made me cringe with jealousy, the thing is that I would actually adore to be given a bright red rose by someone who loves me.

But just because this holiday is here doesn’t mean love should be forced. And neither does it mean that we shouldn’t recognise it on other days of the year, when a great friend is there in a difficult time or a parent or carer is there doing their best to keep you warm, fed and dry.

Having love concentrated like this morphs Valentine’s day into something like Christmas; a retail, advertising and merchandise holiday which never truly expresses the depth of the emotion. And isn’t sensitive to lose who have been recently broken-hearted or lost a loved one.

Love is for life, not just for Valentine’s.

Modern Feminism

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In case you didn’t realise, tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of women (only those over 30 mind!) being given the right to vote in England.

There are many events running across the country to commemorate this, including a special exhibition at the Pankhurst Centre in Manchester, and the Museum of London.

But with a hundred years passed since this first milestone law, how is feminism fairing in modern society?

It is a question which has dogged me for a while – a staunch feminist as a teenager, I never wore make up and insisted on studying physics at university, in retrospect mainly to prove that I could do so. It used to annoy me when I heard other people, both men and women, referring to modern-day feminists as “greedy”, “lesbians”, “bra burning” “man hating” etc. etc. It can all be very negative.

Yes, it is true that nowadays women in the western world endure many privileges also granted to men. And it is true that historical sexism could be regarded as not as abhorrent as racism and other forms of discrimination. But the fundamental idea of the feminist movement is one that resonates throughout the entire human race – a necessity for people to be treated as the individual and unique person they are, rather than with regards to their heritage, gender or any other difference.

So why should feminists be viewed in such a negative light, even by other women? It is distracting people from a problem that still resonates in society, even over a hundred years since the suffrage movement. Women are still not equally regarded in society as men, though it has improved far more. But branding people fighting for their cause in their own chosen manner does not help anything.

Not a teenager, wearing make up and having thoroughly turned my back on my physics career, I still regard myself as a feminist. It is something I am proud to be, and something that all men and women should be proud to be, void of any negative connotations. It is necessary for the tarnished feminist image to be revitalised to continue its forces towards equality, not just for men and women, but for all people.

Song: Across the Sea

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I don’t care for that little piece of my life,

The one you took away from me;

It was a phase, a moment left in time

And one I was so scared to leave.

 

But now it’s gone I don’t think of it much,

The tides of time have run away with me,

The love is gone, the feelings were all lost,

When I returned across the sea (and I found out I could be free)

 

Chorus

Ohhh did you think I would wait?

Did you think the love was that great?

But then we parted, and whatever was there has gone,

It’s never something I would dwell upon.

 

Kisses on postcards can only go so far

Before I begin to undo

And all those men waiting at the bar

They all make me think of you

 

What’s done is done; the sands have passed,

What’s lost is lost, we can’t make it last

And all the while you thought I would wait,

Expecting that you and I were a product of fate.

 

Chorus

 

So, what if our time has run?

And all those memories are made.

I grow old, I grow fatter, I become

Just a silhouette to fade.

 

But I couldn’t wait, not for anyone

My life was mine and my battles to be won

I had my reasons; my goals are my own

The world was mine, still yet to roam.