My beautiful imperfect girl

Naively, she doesn’t realize her sadness reflects in her eyes

She still doesn’t recognize who she sees in the mirror

Her bumps and bruises, over time, still left their scars

She’s hiding away until her vision becomes clearer.

As if silent cries can’t be heard through the thick walls that we’ve built

As though sleepwalking softly makes her less seen

She tries to disappear during moments of weakness

When she’s unable to translate what it all means.

She’s a whisper and a scream all in one deep thought

Crying and laughing all the same, not impossible to do

Sleepyhead days so she can ignore her existence

Or drown in another’s life for the sake of a different view.

She perfects her act of being all but twenty-three

Overwhelmed and confused, forgetting all the years before

When she was just a teen, not knowing what she should even dream

Choking down her fear, she bravely opens herself to feeling more.

Welcomes the unknown, aching pains beneath her skin

She breathes in the bad with the good, now she understands

Her strengths allow her truths to lead the way she envisioned

On a road less traveled because she finally knows that she can.