"The girl by the pond,
her eyes empty
and her heart cold;
the scorched ground
and the darkened sand
underneath
is the result
of the darkness that creeped.
The girl by the pond,
who had taken to
harming herself-
just look at the scars
that criss-crossed
her invisible heart.
The girl by the pond,
saw a boy on the other side
with a wreath of flowers
and smile.
He thanked her for saving him-
that he wanted her to love him.
The girl tried to reach for him;
little did the boy know that the girl
did not know how to swim
in the currents of despair.
The girl who would've drowned
if it weren't for the boy who saved her life.
She saw his face across the surface,
with him, she thought of the place-
the place of flowers,
the place of dreams.
This is the place where she wanted to be with him forever."
I told my children,
their eyes sleepy
and as I tucked them in.
"Who was the boy that saved the girl?"
My first asked.
"How do you know if you're in love?"
My second inquired.
The candles flickered,
the monster in the shadow dissipated.
I told them about the boy who was my whole world.
And, that, if a person is truly in love,
they would tear their own heart in two
just to see the one they adore
rise above.
My two children fell asleep
except for the last one,
he had a pressing question in his mind-
an answer to a secret that I promised to keep.
"Who was the boy?"
"And, who was the girl?"
"The boy is the man that I married."
"And the girl...
The girl was me when I could've died
because of the world."
