Rewind

Looking back through photographs,

I see a face I know.

The child who lives inside of me,

no matter how much I grow.

The youthful face of blissful ignorance,

a child of wonder.

She moves her body unlike her peers,

and their words tear her innocence asunder.

I flip through the years and try to catch her eyes,

but as her height lengthens,

she loses her gaze towards the normal folks,

and in her neurodivergence her confidence strengthens.

She shines a light that not all can see,

but those who can are blinded by her luminosity.

I look in the mirror, and find her in my eyes.

That same sense of wonder, but a wary curiosity.

There's a sadness in my eyes from a heavy heart,

but there's also a fire lit by the tiny child within me.

A fire for light and warmth,

to make up for the cold & shadows that long surrounded me.

For Elanor - for finding me on the spectrum