When you Fall (For Grace)

For my very special cousin, Gracie.

She reminds me of a monkey.

Standing there,

Golden hair,

So brave.

Never afraid to climb higher,

Higher,

Always higher.
The tallest treetops told me today that she touched them,

Swinging from the rafters above the crowd below,

What a show.

She reminds me of a honeybee,

Pollinating prowess,

Beyond your wildest dreams.

This girl

My six year old cousin needs no introduction,

Because the timeline of her palms can be traced back to eternity,

Holding her history inside two, perfectly symmetrical slender appendages,

She reaches for my hands,

Grasps them tightly like I’m going to let go,

I won’t.

As her hand fits into mine,

I can feel her the animal in her begin to thrive,

She is alive.

This girl

Is an eagle that doesn’t need wings to fly,

A tigress with scars as her stripes,

A thoroughbred scuffing the earth below its feet,

As the trumpet sounds.

But I worry.

She is six now,

Drawing pictures of places I’ve never seen,

Conjuring memories of lives we’ve never lived,

Living life as if it were a gift.

But I worry.

Will she stop reaching for the trees?
Will she fall and scrape her knees?

When she turns eight,
Will she try to escape the fact reality isn’t so great?

When she turns ten,

Will she have to cope with the pain of not being “just quite right”?

How about thirteen?

Will she let a boy bring her to the brink and back again?

Sixteen?

Seventeen?
Eighteen?

Nineteen?

My girl.

When you fall,

When balancing upon treetops,

And swinging upon stars

Becomes all too much to hold on your shoulders,

Come crashing down.

Come breaking through.

Don’t be graceful about it.

Don’t make it pretty,

You are not a princess.

The only tiara you wear is a crown of golden hair,

The only gown you’ll go down in is your Dora sweatshirt

Let the pain engulf you,

Surround you for one long, dark moment.

Let it sink in.

Let your bones hit the Earth and your feet hit the dirt,

And start all over again.

Author's Note

This poem is meant to be read aloud, so please keep that in mind when reviewing. Thanks! --JM