Member-only story
Be Still
A Poem
don’t fear the darkness, they said,
because the real monsters walk by day —
and I didn’t know how to feel then,
realizing anyone could be an enemy
the sun may rise and set,
the moon may take its place,
but I remember the shadows most of all
be calm, be still, don’t make a sound —
that’s what they told all the girls,
as if they could squash us down
into more respectable modes of being
the sun may scatter its light all around,
the moon may dance away from view,
but I remember the quiet lingering like a ghost
take your aim and let the arrow fly —
we’re warriors of different skins now,
scarred and battle-weary from a world
that never wanted us in the first place
the sun may be blood red by morn,
the moon may hides its face in clouds,
but I remember the warning like it was yesterday
goodbye, little girl, they said —
because they never saw me as anything more,
hardly a threat, surely not…
