Pretending at a Poetic Persuasion

You will wake up

If I had to explain why it hurt from what he had done

Because it all seemed so innocent in the light of the morning

And explaining my terror felt like dragon slaying

But I am tired of living in the margins

And all that quiet now hangs heavy enough to bleed

While I don’t yet know how to shed the helplessness of the princess

Or reclaim the piece of me I lost to him  

It is time for me to change who writes the story

inconsistent

ebbing and flowing

like light from a false star

but you

who has stayed

in spite of me

you

Who you can push off into the corner once you’ve had your fill

The kind of girl you string up by the wayside

Because you think it is funny to make girls cry

But the marginal girls deserve more as well

It’s not their fault the world has taught them not to be brave

What we deserve is a world without people like you

When I have the ungainly claws of a bear

And although I know that I am too clumsy for love

I transform as the shadows break for dawn

Becoming too small to be worthy

But soft, your kiss

When you caught me by the arm to spin me into dance

And I never knew true beauty until the firelight reflected in your eyes

In order to learn the name of your skin

I had no weapons, so I made my flowers into armor

Or your contentedness to stand alone in the rain

How your dress never seems to touch you as you dance

And realize you are made of more than you know

I wonder when you will learn to love yourself

With your god in the dark

All because 

And stayed in spite of my hopes

For the scarcity of true romance consigned me to dreaming  

And they all said love would come if I waited

But wait has turned to wasting

Now I am too old for fairy tales and candy-soft romance

Though some days, I still search for contentment somewhere outside my window

When you wish for a protector from the monsters

But dawn strips away your shadow romance

Rusting the armor of your delusion

Still, there is a chance for something beautiful

When all your loves lie bleeding

Remember who you are in the solitude and the stillness