And we are just breakable breakable breakable girls and boys...
I can feel your fingers claw at my hair
rough and relentless pulling through
the strands until they fall
like cobwebs around my shoulders.
Sweet-simple bruises dress me in a purple only I can see
but you put them there
so I make them fit.
Droplets of your reflection trickle down my cheek
and I keep wishing you would catch them
in the hand you used to hold mine in.
You don’t, but
they make me sparkle shyly.
I take the twisted tulip bouquet you hand me.
Its dried petals scrape my arms and eyelids.
The ash and blood leave henna patterns across my skin.
My bare feet prepare to walk down an aisle adorned with broken glass slippers.
Spinning
slowly
I appraise your work before a mirror
and I see:
I am as beautiful as I have ever been.
So I take your proffered arm.
rough and relentless pulling through
the strands until they fall
like cobwebs around my shoulders.
Sweet-simple bruises dress me in a purple only I can see
but you put them there
so I make them fit.
Droplets of your reflection trickle down my cheek
and I keep wishing you would catch them
in the hand you used to hold mine in.
You don’t, but
they make me sparkle shyly.
I take the twisted tulip bouquet you hand me.
Its dried petals scrape my arms and eyelids.
The ash and blood leave henna patterns across my skin.
My bare feet prepare to walk down an aisle adorned with broken glass slippers.
Spinning
slowly
I appraise your work before a mirror
and I see:
I am as beautiful as I have ever been.
So I take your proffered arm.