and then she runs away

Mimi Wilhelm

now looks up to where her hands hold the earth, above her head, it pressing down on her fingertips. If only her fingers hadn't been numb, and she'd noticed her power. If only she would stop looking backwards

away from the sun
How pitiful she flies away

numb, she screams, and in the darkness, light. She has stolen everything to gain nothing, and now walks with a straight back.

small inside,
Her emotions press like little ghosts inside a glass bottle with a metal cap.

Her redeemer is far away.
Her redeemer is black for his absence and
quiet in his far off glance.

"stop looking at me,"
she says
and then she runs away