NEPHART.COM

recent posts

about

  • An Invitation to the Soul

    An Invitation to the Soul

    You can be happy now.

    Not tomorrow.

    Not after fixing everything.

    Now.

    Smile

    the kind that doesn’t ask permission.

    Laugh

    even if it surprises you.

    Dance

    not like a star

    but like someone

    finally alone

    with their own body.

    Let the sky

    watch you

    without judging.

    Let the wind pass by

    and not explain yourself to it.

    You don’t owe the universe

    a performance.

    Be one

    with the person

    who wakes up inside you

    every morning

    before your name does.

    You call it your soul.

    I call it

    the one who waits.

    When that soul

    stands at your doorstep

    unannounced

    hands empty

    eyes tired

    would you open the door

    or pretend

    you are not home?

    The door of my heart

    is not always open.

    It closes

    on busy days.

    On loud nights.

    On days I forget myself.

    But on weekends

    and slow holidays

    when time loosens its grip

    I leave it unlocked.

    No conditions.

    No explanations.

    If you’re coming to stay

    come gently.

    This is where the quiet things live.

    The unfinished dreams.

    The soft fears.

    The beautiful mess.

    If you’re looking for beauty

    you won’t find perfection here.

    You’ll find

    someone

    still choosing to let themselves in.

    Just like you.

  • The Debt Freedom Remembers

    The Debt Freedom Remembers

    I told you

    I would pay your debt…

    and give you freedom.

    Not

    to buy

    your love.

    Freedom

    should never

    come with receipts.

    But if love never comes…

    if my name

    never finds a home

    in your mouth,

    if my absence

    feels lighter

    than my presence…

    then let me remain

    the debt

    you never finish repaying.

    Not in money.

    In memory.

    In the quiet moments

    when freedom asks you

    who

    paid

    its price.

  • Some People Stay Briefly

    Some People Stay Briefly

    Some people…

    teach you how to smile

    when you had forgotten

    how to smile.

    Some people…

    don’t teach you to cry.

    You just see them crying.

    And somehow

    you learn.

    Some people hold your hand

    and leave

    too soon.

    It’s alright.

    If they held me any longer

    they wouldn’t have reached

    their destination.

    Some people come and ask,

    “Are you alright?”

    And while you are explaining

    what happened…

    they are already

    walking away,

    turning into

    distance.

    Some people praise

    how good you look,

    and in the same breath

    they want something from you.

    Their compliments

    are hooks.

    Your story stays hidden.

    They only read

    the cover

    of your book.

    Some people inspire you

    to build a rocket,

    to leave the ground,

    to touch space…

    And the very next day

    they change direction

    because a cat

    crossed their path.

    Some people invite you

    with such a warm smile

    you feel like leaving with them.

    But when you arrive

    their minds are crowded.

    Locked.

    No space to sit.

    So much clutter.

    So much chatter.

    Words melting,

    like butter…

    but saying

    nothing.

    And some people…

    never say anything.

    They stay distant.

    Smile from a corner.

    Pray for you.

    They never come too close.

    You won’t remember them,

    because they never ask

    for anything.

    Except one call

    when you are not well.

  • No Need

    No Need

    One night, in my dream,

    Mike Tyson asked

    if I wanted to box with him,

    real boxing.

    I said,

    no need.

    My home is a boxing ring

    where punches happen every day

    with her.

    Tyson laughed

    and disappeared.

    Another night,

    a monkey asked

    if I wanted to visit the zoo

    to see him.

    I said,

    no need.

    My partner hasn’t been to the zoo

    for a long time.

    She says she sees monkeys

    every day

    in the house.

    The monkey laughed

    and disappeared.

    One night,

    a gardener called

    and asked

    if I would like to plant good dreams.

    I said,

    thanks.

    I already have the seeds.

    I got them

    while procrastinating.

  • The Smile of a Century

    The Smile of a Century

    They said…

    me and your aura don’t match.

    I said,

    okay.

    And just like that,

    we didn’t argue.

    We didn’t beg.

    We didn’t fight the universe.

    We moved on.

    Not because they said so,

    but because we understood each other

    so well

    that staying

    would have been disrespect.

    Some understandings

    don’t come with explanations.

    They come with goodbyes.

    A new chapter waits.

    The new year stands nearby,

    holding a red carpet.

    No…

    we are not celebrities.

    But we have self-respect.

    We know we are valued.

    I respect your decision.

    You stood up from the chair.

    You kissed me

    like it was your final line.

    You waved goodbye

    the way people do

    when they already know

    they won’t return.

    Still…

    I dream of crossing your path someday.

    And I will smile at you.

    Not asking

    for a smile back.

    Not soon.

    Maybe months.

    Maybe years.

    Maybe so many years

    or never again.

    Thank you

    for the memory.

    Because maybe,

    at the very end of my life,

    I will be touching a frame

    where two souls are smiling.

    And I will whisper to myself…

    That…

    was the smile of a century.

  • Negotiating With Aliens About the Price of a Heart

    Negotiating With Aliens About the Price of a Heart

    You all are sold,

    the aliens told me.

    I said, “At what cost will you buy me?”

    Aliens said,

    “More than any bank can offer.”

    I said, “Is it a loan?”

    “No real money.”

    Me: So what should I do with it?

    “Do whatever you want.”

    Me: What if I need

    something more than money?

    Aliens: What do you want?

    Me: Leave your spaceship to me.

    They went back to their spaceship,

    silently,

    without a word.

    Hope they’re having a meeting about it.

    If love could be bought at a discount,

    and hearts could be sold,

    how would I get rid of my bike

    that’s grown too old?

  • Before We Arrive

    Before We Arrive

    You can’t kill us anymore.

    You’ve already slaughtered thousands of souls.

    Your hands are stained,

    soaked in the blood of the innocent.

    No soap can wash it off.

    No water remembers you kindly.

    Tell me.

    What did you gain from their deaths?

    What more do you want?

    Was stealing from the taxpayer not enough?

    Still clinging to that chair,

    still pressing your weight into it?

    Will you leave it…

    or must we tear you loose?

    We watched you through 2G.

    3G.

    4G.

    5G.

    Now we are Gen-Z.

    And we don’t want you anymore.

    This same Gen-Z

    can be Zen.

    Calm.

    Good.

    Peaceful.

    But this same Gen-Z

    can become a storm

    if you keep pushing.

    Did you think you could silence us?

    That bullets could bury our voices?

    No.

    Cowards.

    Big cowards.

    Your days are done.

    Pack your bags.

    Go wherever you want.

    Go now.

    Before we arrive.

  • Letting Go of What Never Held Me

    Letting Go of What Never Held Me

    I say I’ll come.

    Then I say I won’t.

    But one thing is true:

    my pockets are full of things I never meant to carry.

    The words I hear feel heavy.

    Lunch today is nothing.

    Someone is ready to fight.

    Fine. Let them.

    People talk and talk

    and keep saying they’re fine,

    but everything around them feels off.

    So let it out.

    Tell me,

    what’s hurting you today?

    Close your eyes tight

    and maybe everything softens for a moment.

    Suddenly I’m in a desert,

    dry, silent, endless.

    Where do you even go

    to look for water here?

    Come on, climb the camel.

    You think you’re cool now.

    But it’s burning hot.

    You say you need coolness.

    I say you need ice cream.

    I try to shout it,

    but the heat steals my voice.

    Here

    your foundation cream.

    Funny how you slipped on your own dream

    while trying to look steady.

    A small light flickers far away,

    like something trying to reach me

    but losing strength.

    The lights fade

    dim… dim… dim…

    as if they’re tired of shining for everyone else.

    So I brush it aside,

    quiet and certain,

    the same way you finally let go

    of something that never once held you in return.

    Don’t call.

    That’s the end.

    I’m done for today.

  • Would You Jump for Humanity? | A Powerful Spoken Word Poem

    Would You Jump for Humanity? | A Powerful Spoken Word Poem

    They asked me,

    why don’t you jump from skyscrapers

    for the sake of humanity?

    I looked at their hands

    still warm with coffee,

    still steady with comfort

    and I said,

    I would jump from a mountain

    if the fall could shake humanity

    so hard

    that its tremors

    traveled through generations

    through cradles,

    through graves,

    through the bones of tomorrow.

    The sound I would become

    not a scream,

    a bang

    would send ripples

    through the ribs of the cosmos.

    You would all be swallowed

    by that echo,

    only to be returned

    as humans with no destination,

    no hunger for meaning,

    no memory of kindness

    alive,

    but emptied of love.

  • If I Was a Dreamer | Spoken Word That Hits the Heart

    If I Was a Dreamer | Spoken Word That Hits the Heart

    And I ask myself

    I can still dream, can’t I?

    If I was a dreamer,

    I would dream of a time traveler

    not one who changes wars or deletes history…

    but one who simply comes, sits beside you,

    talks for five minutes,

    smiles once,

    and leaves behind a sentence so powerful

    it quietly rewrites your entire life.

    If I was a dreamer,

    I would see AI and humans

    walking side by side

    not as masters and machines,

    not as watchers and watched

    but as silent helpers,

    never stealing privacy,

    never touching destiny without permission.

    If I was a dreamer….

    I would see Mr. Bean

    enter my dental clinic,

    panicking… not for himself

    but for his teddy.

    “Doctor, only one tooth… please.”

    And somehow

    the world would feel lighter that day.

    If I was a dreamer,

    I would go back to my college days…

    stand in front of my tutor…

    and finally say the words

    my fear swallowed every day:

    “You are beautiful.”

    Maybe ask for a coffee.

    Not as a fantasy

    but as a human being with trembling courage.

    But I was quiet then.

    My confidence

    was still learning how to breathe.

    If I was a dreamer…

    I would speak to my school crush tonight and say:

    Please…

    don’t visit my dreams anymore.

    Your presence turns sleep into addiction.

    I wake up craving

    what I can never touch again.

    So stay where you belong

    safe inside memory.

    Don’t shake the nights

    I’m trying to heal.

    And maybe…

    maybe I am a dreamer.

    Because even after everything,

    I still believe a soft thought

    can change a loud world.