A Shadow That Remembers **TW (SA)
Writing this one healed one. One of my favorites.
A Shadow That Remembers
A shadow follows me.
She’s 7 years old
still waiting for
someone to notice
she never came home.
She drags her coat along the floor
in the middle of July,
dressed for a winter storm
everyone forgot.
She holds the same mossy eyes as me.
She is not a stranger.
She is the ache underneath my silence,
The rage behind my ribs,
Her sorrow is woven through
every story I tell.
Her body was trespassed
and harmed by people that
towered over her.
She’s kept secrets
before she knew secrets
could be cruel.
She’s trapped inside
an abandoned house in her chest
and her small fists are banging
on the walls to get out.
I tell her we’re older now
We can get out of this house.
We know how to leave.
That no one can touch us
without our permission.
And I find her staring eyes confused
like I don’t understand her.
Because, time to her
is a hallway with no exits
Every footstep is a beginning
of something she cannot stop
Every silence is a mouth
holding back a scream.
The flames died years ago but
the alarm is still ringing.
The walls of the house never learned
the difference
between smoke and sunlight.
And when I get to her,
I will unclench her frozen fists,
hang her coat up to dry,
And break down every wall
that kept her inside.
<3
