By: Elysse Shirley

when I am happy

I feel so light

I fear that I may float away

so I breathe deeply

hoping the air in my lungs

will be enough

to keep me on the ground

--

quite often

I find myself wondering

what it would be like if

I just stopped.

I also wonder

what mighty courage

that would take

--

I wonder if anybody would miss me

or if I’d just continue as a ghost of a memory

as a foreign feeling in their spine when someone mentions my name

or if I’d just become a question

• if I dropped off planet earth

--

are you okay?

what’s wrong?

why won’t you tell me?

and then they’re gone.

• what they say

--

always lurking

always watching

constantly searching

for you to lose

• what they do

--

always present and creeping
mouths with broken switches

minds with broken glitches

never here, but always leaving

• how they are

--

water droplets fall softly

floating down your cheeks

they were crafted perfectly

derived from the corners from your mind

mined from the corners of your eyes

noiselessly being swept away

by a shirt sleeve

or tissues quiet like clouds

• tears like helium balloons