An Ode to You

To the girl who looks up at most people she meets,

This is for you.

To the girl who hates Asian food except for peanut and thai chili sauce;

To the girl that listens to black metal and Nick Drake and 90’s pop all in one day;

To the girl that takes what is given but never takes,

This is for you.

Who reserves the right to create

Art

Silence

Relationships

But never ceases to squeeze the detonator.

To the girl who doesn’t care for diamonds but sees more beauty in 

Garnet, 

Moonstone, 

And turquoise.

To the girl with the imperfections that she cannot see are perfect;

The unique characteristics that remind her of no one but herself;

The ones that crease,

The raised flesh,

The blurred vision,

All of her scars, teeth, toe nails,  

Hair color, texture, volume,

Length, width, weight, 

All perfect

This is for You.

To the girl who greets death as an old friend;

One she has visited time after time by the bridge, the railroad, 

Outside of a third-story window, the bottom of a pill bottle, 

And against the wall with a driven pounding like a tortuous engine or metronome.

To the girl that will make you the best plate of spaghetti of your life and never eat a bite

Just to see you smile.

To the girl that shines like silk beneath the sun and looks like lightly toasted coconut.

The girl with 8 seas looming and storming in her gaze and then

They’re still again, unpredicted.

This is for You.

For the girl whom you want to give everything;

For the girl that you want to save;

To rescue;

The princess,

The damsel,

The creature of your fantasies;

Her fantasies.

To the girl that cannot be saved from yourself.

To the girl of addiction and obsession of

Folk music,

Of silence,

Of a mouth that leaks the words she seeks;

For the hidden girl of my dreams whom I have fallen for,

This is for You.

For the girl that has shown me a self that I embrace more and more with each day.

This is not for me;

This is for You.

To the girl that values dusty unique texts and strolls on the beach 

Alone

Over the short-lived, over exposed, oppressive and popular images of sex.

Who is of the few individuals that has found something more interesting than sex.

Who prefers the love of another that will treat her like an equal.

Who prefers the kind of person that wants her without saying it everyday. 

Who hates her body but wants to love it and cries herself to sleep

On occasion because she can’t escape the labyrinth;

The hedge maze with cheating paths

That is her mind,

This is for You.

Who thinks her presence is more inconvenient than wanted companionship,

Who can’t fathom the credit that she is due,

And who wants to die 

Every.

Single. 

Day.

But goes on,

And on, and

On "

Because there is a sliver of peace that comes over her when she sees you smile.

To the girl who loves animals more than people.

To the girl that wishes she was inanimate;

Traveling through space on some nondescript plane of existence. 

Who loves Disney because it is the only true magic, 

Victoria’s Secret because it makes her feel like magic, 

And Pink Floyd because they haunt her soul.

Who hates Hollywood for its idolatry over artifice produced, 

Partying for it’s useless social interaction, 

And cigarettes for their memories. 

To the girl that is gorgeous enough to be a pin-up model or live 

An easy life in exchange for her integrity and dignity

But is more comfortable in poverty;

In a small apartment;

In sweat pants, a sports bra;

Holding a book of philosophy for hours.

Who thinks losing “The Game of Life” is actually winning.

Who is a rebellious person; mind, body, and spirit.

Who does not necessarily believe in the “spirit” but rather “character”.

This is for the girl that never stops singing.

Never stops dancing.

Never stops thinking.

And can never start praying.

This is for the girl that loves me the most.

This is for the girl that I have hurt time and time again.

This is for the girl that makes me want to live and makes me want to die.

For who I am.

This is for the girl who I have failed

This is for the girl who I have saved.

This is for the girl who goes

On.

And.

On.

And.

On…

To see me smile.

To the girl that loves me even when she hates me.

To the girl with more patience than I or anyone I’ve ever met.

A little longer;

A little longer.

For the one that will always be by my side

To sing,

And dance,

And make me smile even when there are tears in my eyes

Or in hers

Even as I write these words

She is flying

One wings of ocean spray and ashes

Of rose stems; the petals left behind; all twisted and flapping mad to stay up

Of fins that dream of feathers that dream of fins

Without legs

She is flying

This is for You, alone.

I am for You.

Always.