Double-Feature Intro

Sometimes the world feels too heavy to bear, and the soul begins to dream of places it has never touched. Two paths emerge—one of quiet surrender, the other of yearning flight. These pieces explore that journey: the weight of what we leave behind, and the promise of somewhere beyond the horizon.

Escape Route
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I want to step off this soil,
feel its weight fade from my bones,
like a chain I never asked for,
a history I never owned.

I long for skies not heavy with judgment,
for oceans that don’t pull me under,
to breathe air not tainted with promises
that leave the soul shattered,
like glass beneath tired feet.

I would trade the land of endless noise,
the echoes of hollow dreams,
for silence—
for the quiet of somewhere far,
where the world doesn’t scream
but whispers,
and I can finally exhale.

Somewhere else,
where home isn’t built on brokenness,
where freedom isn’t borrowed
but earned.

Tropical Longing
Poetry by Rowan Evans

I wake up each day,
mind focused on the journey ahead—
I’m putting plans in motion,
to cross oceans,
to leave behind this land of plenty,
where many have none.
I long for the land
of white sand beaches and palm trees,
I long for a tropical sun.

Life upon a different shore,
it’s calling me.
And I think about it longingly.
Get me out of here,
get me to where my heart feels at peace.
Instead of here,
where I feel like I’m pulling myself in two,
stretched thin between what is and what could be—
like waves crashing against jagged rocks,
each one breaking off a piece of me.

The Philippines—
a dream painted in shades of emerald and gold,
the promise of solace in the whisper of the sea.
But here, the air is heavy,
clouds hang low with burdens of the past,
while I yearn for a sky unshackled,
where the horizon stretches far beyond
the limits of what I know.

Palm trees sway like dancers,
and the sun burns bright,
calling me to walk barefoot,
where my soul can feel the sand,
and my heart can finally breathe.
But for now,
I’m tethered to this place,
this world where the weight is felt
with every step I take.

Still, I hold onto the dream,
the image of an island beyond the mist—
where peace resides,
and I can shed the pull of this dual life,
and rest beneath the warmth of the tropical sky.

Double-Feature Outro

And so we leave, if only in words—for a moment, we escape the weight of the world. We walk toward distant shores, toward air untainted and skies unbound, carrying pieces of ourselves we thought were lost. Between the tethered and the free, we find the space to breathe, to dream, to simply be.

Looking for more of my poetry? The Library of Ashes