For Someone I Have Known Since Birth

Poem by Sophia Schlesinger

And my heart aches for you,

you who finally stand at a crossroad

you swore you had been running away from

for what some may call years now.

 

A lifetime of watching you kick at stones has taught me much about you.

One rock goes flying down an old, cracked alleyway,

skittering like an old cat’s claws.

And just when you thought it had disappeared into the world,

it would come screaming back toward you like a bullet.

 

And my heart aches for you,

for the parts that are now raw and angry red

for drops of blood left on the pavement,

but mostly for the mental storm that left them there.

 

And now here you stand at a crossroad

you were sure you had turned your back on,

walked for miles the opposite way

with music erupting in your head

and drowning out anything else.

 

You didn’t notice the flurry of words surrounding your name

Each chaotic and developed and beautiful

You didn’t notice the history behind each word,

each that started as seed, and now blooms in a changing atmosphere.

 

And my heart aches for you,

because even as you stand there now,

these words and all of their meaning

flutter around you in the breeze,

and I fear you still do not see them.