By Leah Samuels

I curl in a ball.

My toes dig into the earth,
each of my teardrops falling like a thousand.

I feel my body flinching away from my troubles.

I reach deeper and deeper,
trying to find a safe place within my heart.

My hands skim a cold rock,
and I let my body shake under the sky,
afraid to look up,
afraid to see.

But a gentle touch, like a butterfly,
pulls me back up.

Cracking my hard shell,
I come out like a bud after a hard winter,
drawing up slowly.

The sun, I wasn’t able to reach before
shines through the leaves to meet me.

I snuggle in her arms,
my feet feeling anew,
sun-warmed earth below me.

About the Author

mouths of babes