poems inspired by folklore

Seven

I heard from your best friend yesterday that you were having trouble sleeping

That you felt like such a child again, warding off the monsters

Under your bed, inside your closet

In your head and in your heart

Sleeping with the lights on, hugging bolster pillows

Replacement for your former two-year lover's arms

I heard from your brother yesterday that you were having trouble eating

That you felt like such a child again, thinking spoons were airplanes

And losing your appetite to watch your favorite TV shows

Or simply to participate in the cult of starving girls and boys

Recalling your father's words of how every grain of rice uneaten

Is another year in purgatory

Thinking to yourself that that might be a risk you're willing to take

I heard from your cousin yesterday that you were having trouble breathing

That you felt like such a child again, going through your first asthma attack

And the walls of the hospital they brought you in felt vaguely familiar

Like the medicine your parents used to feed you

And the prayers echoing from down the hall into your room

The same prayers that your mother always wailed,

Begging the Lord to keep you alive.

How weird it must feel growing up and still being a child.

If we were still children now, I could have promised you I'd take all of your pain

And hurl it across the mountaintops and watch it fly away

I could have promised you we'd live inside our favorite video game

And save princesses, build houses, and beat dragons,

And I'd use all my infinite hearts to love you.

But we're not children anymore - by twisted fate and magic

Yet everyday you come to school, the pockets under your eyes

Remind me of all the beasts you had to fight in your sleep

Yet in every small insecure moment you thought no one had noticed,

I offered you the forgiveness you couldn't afford yourself.

Yet every hour you spent sick on that hospital bed,

I prayed to every God to heal you.

I can't promise you what I would have promised when we were children

But I promise that in every moment you don't love yourself,

I can do it for you.

I'll love you

With all my infinite hearts

And beyond that.

Read more poems like this in my poetry collection "If I Can See You When I Pass Away." You can order it via https://aidanbernales.carrd.co or through my social media accounts: aidanreuel on IG and Facebook.