Starfish

"I look over at you & see sunshine"

No. F-that.

I look at myself and see pain in my eyes, but a bright, beautiful smile.

A smile that I refuse to let fade because of selfish people.

A smile with plump pink lips that are familiar with the taste of salt from the tears that stream out of those eyes in pain.

My lips tremble at the taste, but curl up at the sides, because this smile will not be broken, like my heart has been.

Pieces of me, taken by others, just for those pieces to be held up against the sun, as if they are beautiful, & then thrown away in the deep woods, never to be found again.

As if those pieces of me never mattered to you,

or to you,

or to you.

But they matter to me.

I may never get them back.

But like a starfish I will allow those pieces, ripped from my heart, to grow back, stronger than before.

Like a starfish who has grown back its torn legs, this heart may not grow back the same as it was before you stole a piece of it—a piece of me.

But I am happy for this.

Because you were a lesson.

Each one of you that has hurt me has been a lesson.

And the pieces you stole away, will grow back without you, stronger than ever before.