In The Dusk of Stars

A short poem about a girl who bears the weight of the world on her shoulders.

Immersed in darkness,
her heart frozen within the pain-
This is her life of apathy,
cold and discerning and cruel.

She sees through their lies,
the masks they wear are fake.
Their eyes are shards of silver,
pieces of shattered dreams.

She hides herself in shadows,
wears the night as her cloak-
This is her life of compassion,
always silent and forever alone.

She sees through their smiles
to the gritted teeth underneath.
She, more than any, understands
the need to fall, dust off, start over.

Expecting nothing, a blackened
kiss leads to her own ruin.
She finds a way promising perfection;
shatters the knife that stutters the lies.

Cloaked in the dusk of silver stars,
she watches hollowly as they all
pass her by, one by one, unable to see
she chose their reality over the illusion of perfection.

And still they refuse to see her,
their salvation and her own demise.