Writing

As  a child

she would sit alone

always watching the others

playing the day away

while she never had the confidence

I wish I had known you when we were younger

With our sun-kissed cheeks and lopsided grins

When we were filled with joy and mindless wonder

At summer church camp singing off-tune hymns

the princess wore her crown
but it felt heavy like iron pressing on her chest
she was told she was beautiful every day
but the words passed through her like wind over glass
she smiled for others

they speak of love as if it is a language written into the marrow of existence

a sacred inevitability stitched into breath and bone

you will feel it one day they promise

a filament of silver breath stretches beneath my feet
thin as a whispered promise and just as easy to lose
keep going you must not look down
but what if down is the only truth and up is the illusion i cling to

“You don’t like who you are?

You don’t have to be her anymore”

Her brown eyes

wide

and the sparkle went out

And ships sailed

To and from the port and

Her brown eyes were

red