Member-only story
Moth Magic
I don’t pay attention to them
watching in horror
as I wrap myself
into a cocoon and melt
Growing new parts and forgetting false starts
They don’t recognize my method of transformation
they’re terrified
but I’m patient
Tuning out the din, writing long lines
Because no one knows where I’ve been
Hiking through dark forests, dense
with the foliage of old stories
that everyone forgets and buries
Stories that feel brighter now
with cracks that let the light in somehow
Filters fell off and I saw myself
as I am, every scar
in the sunlight, free
wings open, forgetting who
they thought I might be
It fills my eye with love, illuminating light
and lessens the inclination to bite
This is the beginning
Fire started, scattered ashes falling
It’s okay to dance in that rain
to celebrate
never again excoriating my pain
It doesn’t matter how long that walk
through the forest took
trying to ignore that babbling brook
My wings are pushing through, finally
The ashes transformed me
made me believe, fully
That even sadness has a bloody end. Before
it breaks
it will bend, slowly, dripping out
to feed the earth with its tears
growing seeds free from fears
The cycle flows forward
and I grow toward
my light, carrying less broken things
and building strength
in my shimmering wings