She sits with her legs crossed at her desk chair
Her back hunched
Like the branches of the weeping willow below
Its limbs swaying in the wind like strings of silk
She types away on her computer
The click-clack of the keyboard like the sparrows
Funny little things that would land on the roof
Pecking away at the window
She’d smile back at them
They’d cock their heads
And fly away
Outside her window
The clouds above her shift east
An airplane flies west
The sun unveils itself
Caressing the street with its golden glow
Nothing about this situation is out of the ordinary
Nothing about this situation is special
A girl sits at her desk
Struggling to write a poem
Her mind is sore
As though it’s been wrung out like a wet rag
All its contents emptied out
What remains is cold and damp
She wishes some warm light
Some percipient ray
Would reach her aching mind
And dry her sorrows away
She gazes absentmindedly
Out of her window
Out there
Right now
It looks bitter
Unpleasant
Dull
A black and white world
It may just be because of the soffits
That the sun
Never reaches her face
Or maybe she is not worthy of its touch
Fourteen years old
A whole life ahead of her
Or so they say
But it feels like her best years are behind her
The good old days gone with the wind
Was she even truly living this past year?
Or just alive
A sack of flesh
A waste of space
The sky a gloomy silver now
The trees look sad
Dead brown leaves scurry along the street playfully
Stopping suddenly
As though their last drops of life
Have just drained out of them
She stares out her window
Not knowing what she is looking for
Not knowing what she will find
She drapes herself in jacket
Pulls on her muddy green sneakers
Unlocks the door
Gone
Outside the world transforms
A surge of color overcomes her
A cool breeze tickles her face
She sees through new eyes
Maybe
The world isn’t all glum and broken after all
How can it be?
When the periwinkle blue of the sky
Pairs so nicely with the chartreuse forsythia
And those crocuses
Little violet flowers
The first sign of Spring
Compliment the deep emerald grasses
Like birds of a feather
Images run rampant through her head
Running through a field of flowers
Sweet-scented aromas all around you
Biking down a hill
The wind billowing your hair
Snow flurries at night
Where the sky never fully gets dark
And the smell of cookies in the oven
Engulfs the room
Submerging your toes under wet sand
Dancing in the rain
So much lies ahead
Out here
She has found a way to the late afternoon sun
Its rays sprinkling through evergreen trees
Casting dancing shadows of light across her skin
At long last
Its warmth hugs her
Out here
The soffits no longer shield her
The sparrows no longer fly away
The weeping willow no longer whimpers
Her mind is no longer sore
Out here
She forgets all her problems
Her worries
Her fears
The girl no longer gazes
Out her window
Stuck
Alone
Afraid
She doesn’t wait for life to happen to her
She is finally ready to live
