Hidden Treasure

Too busy to stop,

too busy to see,

too busy giving sweetly,

packaged pieces of me.

I looked up be it brief,

but what I saw,

it destroyed me.

The brass ring jingled painfully;

the sounds made…unearthly.

I looked to the reflection,

who is she?

Nobody mentioned.

Has she always been there?

I have a vague recollection.

Just then I was falling fast out of my mind.

I looked for the steady hands,

I counted on for all times.

There was nobody there,

these mortals I trusted.

They had all backed away,

no,

instead they were the culprits.

The reflection reached out,

in a glittery light.

Through the terror and anguish,

I could still see her shine.

Again,

I was falling,

down impossible depth.

There is nothing lower,

not in life,

not in death.

Like Alice through the looking glass,

how could I say goodbye?

It all mattered so much to me,

so I tried,

and I tried.

As I watched it all spinning away and away,

I saw parts of me in everything I had given away.

My mind stilled a little,

in wonder I knew.

I had nothing inside me,

nothing left to help me through.

I’d held nothing back;

I’d gotten nothing returned.

The last little piece of me,

was tattered and burned.

I parted with the last of me long ago,

to feed all the needs

of those who needed me so.

It emerged when they realized,

just what they had done.

There was nothing left in me to feast on,

nothing useful,

they had their fun.

I landed in this upside-down place,

terrified,

and confused.

The creatures knew my name,

though none of them I knew.

I couldn’t trust anything,

in this world without shape.

I curled up in a pitiful void,

my sorrow my cape.

I cried silver butterflies,

and orange dragons with ropes.

My tears fell into seeds,

growing owls and wolves.

They grew so loud and hungry,

in the void of my pain.

Their noise made my bones freeze,

Terror and weakness,

grew as they raged.

I lay there for lifetimes of seconds and breaths.

Years into minutes I wept,

and I wept.

My mind raced and spun,

like it was late for the cure.

Then for moments it halted,

as she stood there reflecting back,

my mind empty and pure.

I would think of that nobody

of light not worth mention.

The beasts would sit guard,

butterflies landing on their noses.

The owls crying tears,

big as mirrors to mask me.

Those tears with reflections,

that would materialize her with me.

I’d see her there shimmering in fantastic form.

Still hiding in the void,

now wrapped in her arms.

I’d look to the dragon and realize anew,

how lost I was now,

in this land beyond truth.

I’d forget beautiful nobody again and again.

Sliding fast to delirium,

falling back out of my head.

Emerging she’d creep

between claw and buzzing wings.

First here and there,

then often,

then an everyday thing.

Years had gone by;

she still came every day.

Until one day I bravely didn’t push her away.

I held out my hand,

and her face showed delight.

She took me by the hand,

and we emerged into bright.

She held me steady as I looked all around.

My eyes adjusting to the new reality I found.

I looked back again to my magical friend.

She laughed at my expression,

as awareness set in.

I reached out and touched the cool glass I stared in.

Laughing and twirling she glittered so free.

I felt the air around me as I twirled,

keeping pace…with me?

My laugh it grew louder,

myself time to be.

She was me; I was her,

the magical nobody.

She stayed hidden,

behind,

whichever mask I would go by.

This time with no hiding,

she was visible and bright.

It was me,

I realized with horror,

I had been hiding from my own light.

I wasn’t protecting myself from the monsters,

I was only protecting the pain that I fostered!

No, she said laughing again,

delighted at my key oversight.

You gave you away so completely,

and without any care.

You’d have given them me too,

you were so unaware.

Instead,

your pain saved me,

it kept me hidden and safe.

Now you have met me,

I you,

and it’s a glorious day.

Now I am safe with you,

we are one,

full of trust,

full of love.

I would never give you away!

I gasped.

You are more precious than anything,

a gift from above!

Myself I remarked,

quickly grasping the point.

Your quiet genius you know that?

Her curtsy making me laugh.

You knew they would never just let me be free,

if the light of you,

still flickered through me.

We were safe then,

in our dark despair,

because who wants that?

Then, we weren’t worth their care.

The light,

not put out,

but carefully tended,

allowed only to burn as a tiny hot ember.

For staying hidden,

back then,

was the only way through.

Hiding my light is what led me to you.

The Calé Princess