Calico Frost

You came in,

And I didn’t know you -

I wasn’t sure what to say -

But you were so fun

So nice

So outgoing

And quickly made friends with everyone.

You lit up the room with your smile and your jokes,

Tears

But you can’t see them.

Maybe you feel them, though

In my forced smile

In my eyes

Teacher to student, but you’ve never made it feel like that

You’ve always made us feel like equals

We sat on a bench,

Huddled beneath a blanket,

Cocooning,

Trying to trap body heat.

It was freezing -

First day of summer break at the beach with friends,

And we’re all cold.

Everyone is pushing us into next year.

Pushing, pulling

All the time.

The eighth graders left yesterday.

I went to their graduation.

I tried to smile.

I cried a lot.

I am someone who is waiting on a dock in the middle of the night. There is a gross, green electric light shining on me. There is something out in the waves. 

Love will not heal me.

I will always be a girl of many scars.

But love can teach me to forgive.

Love can give me many reasons for why I should live.

It can even change me, for better or for worse.