17

Your Little Bear has sat in your closet since you were nine and 
decided that you were too old to love it
Its threads have gone loose, and its eyes have lost their shine, and you feel bad even though
You have done nothing

It was made from childhood stitches, although not like the ones you needed when you fell and cut your knee so deep
Little Bear had wiped your tears
and you grew despite the pain of Injury and of whatever made you put that Bear 
away again

There is nothing wrong here; you’re young and your room is a mess and bright and yet somehow not bright enough for your plants to grow

And suddenly you think of all the beautiful soaps that lined the bathroom drawers; they were gifts from your mother and 
you feel sick.

Get a bad habit. Bite at your nails and stay up too late
Try to remember what it was like to be smaller, younger than you are

Find a wisdom that isn’t there