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From My Heart to Yours

By Madeline Meiers

Featured in Caesura 2020: Imago


Recycled Tears

Our hurt passes hands Like slimy dollar bills And blackened dimes, Leaving burn marks on our palms And ashes on our fingertips; All of us lined with scars of our own doing Criss-crossed with the mistakes of the ones we love And the ones we hate. Consequences like buck shots Strike many of us down Whether we meant to or not. Some pretend they aren’t just crying recycled tears But we know better for We know the truth— We all hurt and We all hurt others.

Maybe if we hold hands Then the pain could not pass through us, And even if it could, We would still have each other, The bond of forgiveness sealing our hands together So we can’t let go. Can you imagine a world where no one lets go? No more, “I’ll hold tight if you will,” Because even if you break the pact It’s okay because I won’t And all it takes is one To hold all of humanity in His Hands And say, “I am never letting go.”

A Poem for the Shadows

To all the shadows on the wall who believe they must give up their skin and bones in order to belong:

Belonging is not dissolving, Belonging is being— Being who I am Being who you are— Delighting in each other Because having skin and bones Means we are not shadows on a wall.

 

Bonus poem


A Flower


A flower is beautiful in and of herself

But really shows her brilliance when she blooms

No matter what she has been given.

For a flower cannot choose her petals,

Or her leaves, or her stem;

She merely grows

And buds

And dies

In her due time.


You don’t force a flower

To reveal her petals.

You wait for her

To feel the sunlight

And to hear the buzz of the bees

Before she slowly, slowly, slowly,

Stretches her petals to the morning

All on her own.


She doesn’t have a choice;

For her to be deeply, fully, truly appreciated,

She must open up,

Baring her precious soul

To the risk of harsh and biting storms

And the eyes of all the bees and birds and world

To see her, take her, know her.

But even if she knew what we thought of her,

why should it influence what she thinks of herself?

Whether we find her beautiful or not

She will open when the daylight calls,

Knowing openness comes with its perks

And not just its rain.


 

Madeline Meiers is a senior Honors Humanities and English major. After graduation, she hopes to move to Denver with her friend and save money to travel the world. She is looking forward to choosing her own books to read and continuing to write.

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