Dear Lover Girl.

Uninitiated

Stranger.

Why are you crying?

I remember you briefly, but…

Where did you go?

Is there something you need from me now?

Well, I don’t remember any scars.

Even though I never had the chance to analyze your shell— to know if you had ever cracked at all.

I understand falling.

I still have wounds I cried over, months ago.

A fall I felt for years finally came to a crash.

I was at the lowest, but I knew I could get back up on my own.

I did.

Have you ever fallen before?

You don’t have to answer right away.

I know you hear me.

I know no one had ever asked you

what it costs to stay standing.

But you mistook balance for strength, right?

Still learning where these tears come from?

Disappointment, you may have felt.

Brief Loss.

Sadness that passes through.

But you don’t know impact—

collision.

Not the kind of fall that teaches you where your bones are, or forces you to become both injured and the one who lifts.

Stranger,

I remind you,

When I fell fast,

trusting you beneath me,

I didn’t know

you had never tested your arms

under real weight.

You crying now, doesn’t make you cruel.

Just uninitiated.