From birth,

Cecelia Shine

From birth,

my veins sprouted from weeds in the
ground, were looped around yellow
dandelions and sipped on by bumble
bees. birds chirped chants in my fragile
ear and their song swam through
my bloodstream, my tongue tasted
fresh air for the first time and my pores
soaked up the seeping sunlight, smooth
and dripping like honey on skin. but routine
eventually wrapped the sun in cotton candy
clouds; muscle memory spread the wings
of animals like a cold-blooded killer, lifting
and carrying them off to wherever they
needed to go, dragging their comfort behind
by a desperate string, saving it for whatever
lucky flower needed it most. Mother Nature
birthed me with a golden crown of paper-thin
petals and then left me to care for them
on my own, so over time the glow faded
into silky white wisps tied so loosely that
a seductive whisper of the wind was enough
to pluck them right off of my head like feathers
and leave my premature body to fend for itself.

–

Cecelia Shine is a high school student from Pennsylvania. She fills her life with small joys like collecting crystals, listening to music, and reading. That being said, she values writing above all other pastimes as there is no better way to share an innermost part of yourself that is so often hidden.