By: Linda M Crate

you may see me
waver,
my tears fall from my eyes,
you may see me
broken
and defeated and hurt;
but like a phoenix
i will always
rise from the ashes of my
chaos;
do not count your dragons
before they’ve hatched
you have not
won
everyone has their ghosts
but i’m no longer
haunted by the yous of my
past—
i know you think that i am still the
rabbit hearted girl you once
knew
afraid of everyone and everything,
but i’m not;
i’ve grown into a tougher warrior
than i have ever been
unafraid to slay her own dragons
or to dance in the rain
let them judge me and let them talk
it’s not like they know me
they only wish they
did—
i guess a part of me wished that you knew
me the way they claim to know me,
but even if you did;
i bet you’d still take me for granted
boys like you are just men
pretending and they can’t appreciate a damn thing
until it’s too late.