Stanzas: Monthly Chapbooks September 2015 (Internet) | Page 8

If only she hadn’t lost so many pieces of herself to you,
Like baby teeth. Pieces she thought she needed.
If only you could have read the creases in her forehead
Or followed the maps painted on the backs of her hands,
Because that’s how well she knew the world.
Maybe her smiles wouldn’t have become so taught,
Maybe the bags under her eyes wouldn’t have gotten so heavy,
Maybe... she wouldn’t have closed them.

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