Too Soon | Teen Ink

Too Soon

July 12, 2024
By LucySteward PLATINUM, New York, New York
LucySteward PLATINUM, New York, New York
31 articles 0 photos 1 comment

Who pulled the rug out from under my feet

White sheet 

pulled over the pale of her body

Glimpse of a face drowning in flowers

Screen glitches, dark—

Wait, the streaming’s back on

Watching them weep, 

faces creased, voices meek, shaking through 

the eulogies

From across the world, I watch, 

Wishing time would stop, would rewind your life’s short reel of film

A Zoom funeral, 4 am, but you fly high, my angel

They’ll spread your ashes on the wind, your energy flowing across this world as you seep 

into another

Your soul, boundlessly beautiful, echoing in laughter that will never fade

17 years of love, and maybe 

you’ll visit in my dreams, I’ll glimpse your smile glinting in the moon's bright reflection

but 

I breathe sharply, salty drops streaming down my cheeks as I wake in the dark, cold—

The world took you too soon.


The author's comments:

Writing this poem helped me process the too-soon death of an incredibly talented friend of mine.  She moved to the other side of the world and her funeral was over Zoom at 2AM my time.  We miss her so much. 

Lucy Steward is a high school junior in New York City. Her works have been recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and appeared in the Authoethnographer, Humans of the World, Poet’s Choice, Sad Girl Diaries, and Teen Ink. A writer,  poet, and lover of history she is currently working on her first novel and is constantly slipping into fantasies that feel as real as the world around her. Lucy is also a classically trained pianist, a songwriter, and in a rock band. As anyone does, she loves a good night's sleep.


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