Little one, Don't get so used to the leaving.
Don't let it become a part of you.
Learn from their mistakes,
but you must know that you are not one.

You are young with so much to learn,
but I know that look.
I have had that look in my very eyes.

With an abundance of life ahead of you,
remember that you decide your future.
Not those who chose not to be a part of it.

I am she.
The snow
at the summit
of the alps.
The absent
car keys when
you are late.
Like a test
you forgot
to study for.

I am a day spent
in bed watching
black and white
films.
A tray of
cookies left
in the oven
too long.
A penny
heads down
in the street.

I think in family photos.
Always looking behind plastered smiles
and matching wool sweaters.
I think in mirrors.
Reflecting the person standing before me
searching for themselves in my eyes.
I think like a schizophrenic.
Deafening skepticism ringing through my ears.
I think in exotic dances.
Colorful and twisting
feeling every nerve in my body shiver.
I think like sushi.
In cold foreign textures sliding down your throat.
I think in Polaroids.
Remembering you the day you changed
before my resentful eyes.

Why
lovely eyes
have you happened upon me?
Drawing a map
with precise directions
just when it was believed
I would wander
aimlessly searching
through windows and doors
for something
I wasn't sure how to find

If I could
I would go back
to the very start.
Erase all others who have dared
to come before you
and your lovely eyes.
Erase all who taught me wrong
and trained my heart to believe
it was love being traded.

I beg of you
not to become a prophecy
self-fulfilled by time.
If this is too good
to be true
I don't want to know the truth.

I dreamt of tears
Falling softer than the skin
On the underside of her bended knee
The knee she used to pray
For salvation. For hope.

She looked to me for her answers
To the riddles plaguing her mind
Turning thoughts into open sores
Incapable of healing

Pick on someone your own size she pleaded
To the universe as it poked and
Prodded her yet again
Challenging her to break under its weight
Under the grooves it wore into her shoulders

The help I yearned to give lost on my tongue
Like so many other regrets
I simply watched, waited
Wandered her chaos like a nomad searching
For a safe place to nest

Constantly moving
She fell into orbit around a desolate planet
Prepared to change, rearrange, alter pieces to fit flawlessly

A planet devoid of gravity made it seem impossible
to stay grounded in a system doomed for destruction

Promises exchanged, plans made
Easily pushed aside
preferring an unfamiliar one-sided view
through a crimson tinted telescope lens

Desperate for her dark reality
to converge with a bright future
no matter how brief the eclipse may be

She struggles to weave her life through the threads of a hopeless universe
leaving her, in time, to readjust her orbit around another.

Curious and strong
That is how I was raised
by you and your guiding hand

Truth was a virtue, as was sincerity
in the life you built for me
For us

I learned to see the world through
your hand-me-down blue eyes
so similar to mine

I learned to embrace life through
your arms wrapped tightly around
my small shoulders

I learned not to take life so seriously by
hearing your laughter fill our cozy home
and my tiny ears with joy

I learned to embrace life through
your arms wrapped tightly around
my small shoulders

I learned not to take life so seriously by
hearing your laughter fill our cozy home
and my tiny ears with joy

I learned to hold the weight of the world by
balancing on your solid shoulders and
never being afraid of falling

Curious and strong
That is what I have become
Thanks to you and your guiding hand