Charlotte’s Web

while I float through strangers, warm and dry.

Their stories spill like plastic wine

I nod, pretend I’m doing fine.

The aisle hums, the cabin’s dim,

but every thought returns to him.

He held me soft, then let me go

like something light he didn’t know.

I hand out tea with painted grace,

and wish I had a softer place.

To him, I wasn’t worth the stay.

Paper cups and paper men

Tell me I’m pretty, then leave again

Tiny stars blink in the velvet sky

While I tuck my tears in a lullaby

Sparkles stitched in my uniform skin

But inside, a girl keeps whisperin’

She says, “I miss the mud, the messy hair

The wind that danced me everywhere.”

Blue eyes crying in the cabin light

Little girl lost in a grown-up flight

I pour dreams like apple juice

But none of them are mine to use

So many faces, none feel right

Just strangers speaking through the night

And I pretend, but deep inside

The child in me still tries to hide

Tray tables up, hearts folded shut

They smile like puzzles I can’t cut

I float the aisle like a ghost in pearls

But I was once a dandelion girl

With jelly shoes and scabby knees

Now I serve love with plastic cheese

Their secrets spill like soda fizz

But no one asks me who I miss

Blue eyes crying in the cabin light

Sky full of stars, soul out of sight

They kiss me quick, then disappear

Like clouds that whisper in my ear

“You’re not a story, just a flight”

But I was magic once I might

Still be that girl with spark inside

If I could just unzip this pride

I want to run through sprinklers, not these gates

Trade this cart for roller skates

Scribble hearts on windowpanes

Not watch them melt mid-air again

Blue eyes crying in the cabin light

Calling out through silent night

Between the clinks and stranger things

The child in me still softly sings

“Come find me in the overhead bin

I’m hiding just beneath your skin”

And though I smile and serve and spin…