Facing the World

*This poem was written when I was a child and due to the heavy nature of it, I feel needs further explanation. While it can easily sound like a contemplation of death, it was not. Rather, it was how I felt looking out at the world as I got closer to 18 and moving out. I was at a pivotal point in life where I would have to decide to leave home and the abusive household I had grown up in. It was scary and difficult because I did not know if I would succeed or not, yet it was a path I knew I must pursue.*

She stood on a moonlit ledge,

Hovering over the edge,

Waiting to leap,

As through her fingers bloods seep.

Red spreading like a flower,

Over her heart to devour,

As she drew in a ragged sigh,

To tell the world known goodbye.

Her feet stretched forward,

Yearning to reach toward,

The freedom she sought,

For which she had long fought.

Maybe her wings would fail,

But that was just as well,

Because they had never been spread,

Crushed beneath the cage of lead,

But she had to try,

In order to justify,

The cruelty life had dealt,

And the pain she had felt.

So, she drew in a final breath,

Yanked her courage from its sheath,

And over let gravity pull,

Not surrendering to sleep’s lull.