Oh sweet child

by Kaeli Behr

 

Oh sweet girl,

Who has made you this way?

Who has torn the frill from your dresses

And laced shut your eyes?

Who has pulled tightly

The strings of your corset 

Constricting the movements of your heart?

 

My love, does it still beat?

In that hollow hollow chest

That desperately tries to fold itself 

Into the shape of your soul

Trying to match it-

But like pottery it cracks under the strain of transformation.

 

And who can blame them?

For gluing your pieces back together

As you were before

As what they thought you had been

Fixing you

Into what they decided to remember.

 

Your shape is not defined, sweet girl.

By the curve of your smile

Or the wrinkles by your eyes.

 

Oh sunshine, those wrinkles mean you’re tired

Of beaming light onto those around you

Who shines light for you?

You’ve been smiling for so long

Not to mask your pain but to force it into submission

In secret.

Hiding the repeatedly failed mission beneath your ribs

Time and time again.

You twist your heart

Like clay

And time and time again

It cracks

Breaks

They grab the glue

 

Just leave me broken.

 

Sweet child,

Who did this to you?

Who took away your t-shirts

And wrapped your body in pink and pearls?

Who constricted your heart so tightly?

They forgot what it means to fix.

They made you a doll.

Not a girl.

 

Who put you back together all wrong?

Please show me the shape of your soul.

Do you know what it looks like?

 

Oh sweet boy,

Your heart still beats.

Just listen