beautiful
she says as she softly exhales, taking it all in
a soft smile pursed on her lips
eyes trembling with tears that aren’t allowed to fall
she stares longingly into the distance dreaming dreams of what lies beyond the trees
only closing her eyes to breathe for a moment,
eyelashes brushing against her cheeks
she inhales
breathing in bird songs, mountain sunsets and rushing streams of summer
the trees around her are fragrant and
fill her lungs up with the scent of evergreen perfume as it lingers near her nose
alone
she finally lets the tears fall
knowing she is among friendly faces and without judgement hiding amongst the trees
in their gentle embrace
the wind hugs her softly like an old friend, as it sweeps through the woods
quietly
she lets herself fall apart,
but only for a moment.

she can feel the pine needles poking at her bare feet
but still sits quietly rooted in place
her hands are soil stained and *****
she is tired and desperately in need of rest
but it’s not the type of rest you can lay down and recover from it’s the type you can’t put into words

hush my child
collect yourself,

she breathes out
all of the anger she has clutched onto so tightly like rope for years and stuffed inside her tiny diaphragm, her ribs opening up like a creaky iron gate to unleash it
this is where she also keeps her strength
tucked away, behind the pain.
she is nothing if not resilient

hush, young girl who carries too much on her shoulders
quiet your mind
and
let the pain seep out of your skin and into the ground and grow flowers around your feet

turn it into something beautiful.

relinquish yourself to this moment as you sit
underneath the trees and mountains set before you, and know that you will climb them all
another day.