Comfort

When you tell me
you are not good enough,
my lips taste chalky graphite
as though the pencil I yearn
to grind down to a stub
from the plethora of words I'd scrawl
on a million scraps of creamy paper,
uselessly attempting to confine the
beauty of your being
in the confines of the English language,
already rests against my mouth.

When you tell me
about the ugly hand of cards the Joker dealt you,
something in me
shatters.
And the tears I'd rather kiss off your cheeks
drip down on the carpet,
but for all I know they are filling up my lungs
and I am drowning in them, because
an ACT score didn't merit me the wisdom
of how to breathe a word of comfort
to you.

So tell me, love,
all about that shadowed world you wander through.
I want to hold your hand
(with my left, for that was the one closest to my heart, before you stole it),
and keep you steady where you stumble.
With my other hand I'll bear a candle,
so that every darkened crevice
and cobwebbed corner
may be as illuminated
as my world was when you walked into it.

Author's Note

For that person.

Reviews

[terry smith]

I love how you express yourself!! you are a very good writer!!

[A Scribbler Named Bek]

And then there was jealousy....wow this is so great! I wish I were this talented but really the only thing that inspires me is my cat...yeah. Anyway. I especially love your first and second stanzas - freaking amazing. :)

[Gabby Nieves]

I can hardly believe you're only 15 and already this talented. And I don't mean that negatively, you've got a really bright future in writing. Amazing poem, good job c:

[Katie Alexander]

Wow thank you(: Right now I'm going through a writing slump :/

[Gabby Nieves]

Whenever that happens to me I try reading or just getting inspiration from random people I see lol idk, I hope you get out of it :c you're realllly good

[Katie Alexander]

I write when I don't know how else to express my feelings...the problem is I wrote this poem and some of my others to a person because I didn't know how to come out and say how I felt, but now I'm close enough to that person that I can say almost anythingXD

[Gabby Nieves]

Ahhhh I see, so in a way you lost your muse. Well just because you can say anything doesn't mean you can't still write it down? My closest friend still writes poems for me when he feels the need to and even though he can say the things he says personally, it's still really nice to read them. Not sure if that helps, but I totally understand your issue here.

[Katie Alexander]

That totally helps thank you(:

[Kai Rollins]

Wow. This was gorgeous and extremely powerful. I'm honored to have read this.

[Katie Alexander]

Wow thank you so much I literally gasped when I read your review thankyousomuchthankyouthankyouthankyou(:

[Stefanie Holmes]

This is beautifully written Katie!

~Stefanie

[Katie Alexander]

Aw thank you Stefanie!!!!!!!