Put the tears away.
Don’t let the memories
stain your face.
They are only echoes
of actions in the past
sounding in a canyon
but those vibrations never last.

You remember
cold weeks in December
were bare feet sprung
up and over your plastic window
out into the thick bed of snow
where no one else would go,
so you could know
a few minutes of frozen freedom.

I promise,
you do not have to go back
to that dark black shadow
that once shredded your heart.
You do not have to look
into the mirror that has been
shattered apart.

You remember,
nervous breaths.
How Tensions forced you
to flinch
at the slightest touch.
Short hairs pulled.
Favorite shirts torn
by rages you did not deserve.

I swear that now
if you do not miss it.
You will not have to revisit
that painful *******.
Close your eyes
rest tonight.

This is the present
of your so called peaceful life.
That little boy blue
who wore his bruises
under his aching skin
will not come back here again.