With love, always.: Poetry

By Laira Schmitt

With love, always. is a collection of poetry about survival and healing. About the experience of violence, abuse, love and death. It provides insights into the emotional and mental world of those who are affected.
What is life like with trauma and its consequences?

The book does not have chapters, but as you read it, it becomes clear that there is a common thread running through the book. Each section deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache and each section serves a different purpose.
With love, always. takes readers through a journey of the most bitter moments in life and finds sweetness in them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Books on Demand
• Release date: Dec 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9783758356216

Laira Schmitt

Laira is a German activist, artist and new writer who started expressing her feelings in words and pictures at the age of 11. Her works revolve around social issues such as family violence, homelessness or mental illness and are committed to the weak and disadvantaged in society.

Book preview

I write because

I have things to say

to people who

will not listen.

How can I trust love if

I can‘t ever truly touch ist?

I can touch a face, a body,

I can feel a heart beating

But what other proof is there?

Physicality is not love.

Bruises on a sholderblade,

a body on a body,

a paycheck

or a loveletter.

All innocent symtoms of a hungry disease.

I starve myself until I can‘t

I love until I die

Right at the end of religion

there were stories

told of the language

between lovers

and the promise of

the song of love.

What can we know about

loves heavenly touch?

It blooms in winter

when you need the

warmth of another

and it hides dark secrets.

I couldn't not spend

my whole life

searching for you.

I tell you I’m a poet

and you ask

what I would write

about you

Nobody ever

asked me that before

So I find myself

flicking through pages

of my old notebooks;

I would write about

three different

sorts of coffee

in the morning,

about all the insects

we saved by planting

flowers at noon,

about smoking

in the evening

and dancing

in the kitchen at night.

You say you don’t

believe in love anymore

Then I watch the way your eyes

gaze at the starry night

with tear filled eyes.

I watch you pick a

wildflower from the ground

and place it in the hand of a friend.

I watch you smile at

strangers on the street

I watch you listen intensely

whenever someone speaks.

I watch you hand out pieces of your heart

Again and again and again

Even tho you don’t always get them back

And I know you don’t realise it

But that is love.

How can you deny its existence

when it lives within you

When it is you.

You like cancelled plans.

And empty bookstores.

You like rainy days.

And thunderstorms.

And quiet coffee shops.

You like messy beds

and over-worn pajamas.

I like rooms filled with people.

And dancing in the kitchen.

I like talking to the sun.

And all the spirits around me.

I like coffee with honey

and a pinch of salt.

But most of all,

we like the small joys

that a simple life brings.

To my best friends;

no red ribbon of fate

ties us together

but one day we

linked our pinkies

and made our own

eternal promise

because fate does

not define our friendship.

I chose you with intention

as much as you chose me

and that vow will not change

no matter the distance between us.

You've proved that

home can be a person.

You've shown I have

a home in many places.

Not many,

but a few people

loved me,

and although

I didn't know

its what

keeping my head

above the