She Wanders

She wanders her world

Climbing trees

Playing cards with her family

Drinking tea late at night

And coffee on Saturday mornings

Bobbing along with the radio

And playing with the idea of taking dance lessons

 

She’s got her nose in a book

And a library at home

She’s writing poems

And doing math problems

Learning about the past

Instead of thinking about the future

 

Somewhere, here

Her soul is hiding

Not the tiny fragment inside her chest

But the rest of it

 

Sometimes, she finds bits of it:

Standing on top of a boulder

Or flipping through the pages of a beloved book

Looking at black and white photos

Throwing her head back and laughing with friends—

 

And it feels like fire

And validation

And purpose,

Instead of the bargain brand crap they sell her at school.

 

She wanders her world

Searching for the thing

That makes her soul come alive