Memory

Sometimes I think about you

The girl you used to be

Imprinted in my mind

As a tattooed memory

The way you moved in shadows

Dark and insecure

Fooling all but self

Certain, yet unsure

I remember how you danced

A stiff and rigid sway

Pretending to move freely

But in one spot, you'd stay

You spoke in shouts and whispers

Never in between

Afraid of your own voice

Yet wanting to be seen

You put yourself in boxes

With boundary, line and side

Accepting limitation

Borders yet untried

Sometimes you come to visit

I feel you in my veins

But I recognize your presence

No longer it sustains

I think of you as beautiful

Though lost and undiscovered

Hiding in the shadows

Marked, suppressed and covered

I remember when I told you

That you needn't fear your power

You were acting as a weed

When made to be a flower

At first, you scorned my comments

Discounting them as lies

But there was hesitation

And "maybe" in your eyes

You didn't leave that day

But something in you changed

Then questions in your eyes

Were new and rearranged

And then, one day, you left

Without a word goodbye

I felt myself relieved

Strong, and free to fly

Though you come at times

Greeting me in doubt

Your presence has no pull

Your worry holds no clout

You fade into the silence

Of insecurity

A lost and searching girl

A broken memory

-C. O'Connell-