For the Nearly Lost Girls (And One Lost Boy)

by Fiona Page

The scars on your palms, evidence

Of a fight you didn’t win.

Red flowers rotting in the sun, evidence

Of a loved one, long gone.

Fifteen names, forgotten, evidence

Of how easy it is to look the other way.

Ten years, evidence

Of how quickly time slips into the past.

A locked birdcage, evidence

Of our trapped and restless souls.

Crossed silver sabers on the wall, evidence

Of our desire to survive.

My body in the dirt with yours, evidence.

I pick up those sabers for you, and for me, and for them.

Watch as his lifeblood spills across my victorious hands.

Watch as we come full circle

And we are free.