The grass is barren
And I am the one to blame.

After a long millennium of wishing,
There are no more shooting stars.

I’ve used them all up,
Selfishly.
They are tired.

Or maybe they don’t want to see me anymore.
My wishes are too noisy for their brief passing.

Eden Pela is a writer, poet, hobby-level photographer, and rising senior at the University of Pennsylvania studying English Literature. She has an associate’s degree in Creative Writing from Brookdale Community College and writes feature articles for MXDWN and Mood of Living. Her literary influences are early modernist/realist writers like Fernando Pessoa, Hemingway, and George Orwell. Drawing on her experiences in Nigeria and the United States, she has found solace in writing prose and poetry that reflect those cultural differences. She currently lives between New Jersey and Philadelphia, spending her time writing/submitting to other literary magazines, as well as managing The Vagabond’s Verse with as much passion as one can have for its creation.