Put it in a Dark Cave

Five years ago,

She sketched her name on the wall

and no one wrote next to it. 

She drew a somber heart,

outlined in disgrace,

colored with hope

and left it to dry on its own.

The next year,

She scratched a red X across the name,

glared at the withstanding heart,

and rewrote her name in cursive letters,

hoping someone would write their name next to the word

"Nevermore."

She wrote an honest note

explaining Her feelings, 

showing Her fears and dreams to everyone,

and She saw the world cower away

in Despair and Hatred.

The next year,

She slashed a red X across Her name

and wrote the word "Different,"

because thats what She was,

and that's what her ghosts whispered.

She twisted her mouth

into a painfully dishonest smile 

and left it there to dry.

She wrote a happy note,

and it made no sense to Her.

But She showed it to the world,

and they clapped and cheered

as they told Her She wasn't good enough.

The next year,

She kept "Different" as it was

and wrote a poem next to it

entitled "Atlas Shrugged"

and showed it to the world.

They sneered and scowled

and told her not to be so damn honest.

So She took Her red paint

and matched Her body to Her name,

which was too honest for the world...

and too honest for Herself. 

The next year,

She went to the wall

only to find another person waiting there.

She rushed to them,

and saw that they had covered Her maimed words with bandaids,

and they had written "TRUST"

across the walls jagged surface. 

They smiled at Her,

and dissappeared. 

She left the wall as it was,

memorizing the face of the stranger She didn't know.

The next year,

She went to the wall

and found the person there again.

She stopped and saw that on the wall, 

they wrote her name and then their own

Side by Side,

in colorfully ordinary letters. 

Her name was perfect, 

written as her mother had called her,

implying beauty that she had never seen

reflected back in mirrors. 

Next to her name was the strangers name,

"Atlas."

She watched

as they ran a large red slash through it,

while a sad, tired smile

rested on the face of the stranger, her longtime friend,

whom she had never recognized

until now.

She fell to her knees

and cried in a way only rain could understand. 

 

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