I pity the girl
with the knotted brownhair
hunched shoulders
Hello Kitty backpack
untied shoes
toosmall jacket
and tired eager browneyes

the girl whose tears taste like oceans
who has toomany thoughts brewing behind her smiles
and heaved empty laughter

the girl who sees growingup as a
loss of what was
who treads backwards on the pathoflife
her gaze devouring the past as she stumbles forward

the girl who is suddenly alone
growing addicted to the pain
of removing her layers
on sleeplessnights
to find every girl hidden within

I wish I could go back just one time to embrace her—
to tell her that growing up is not so terrible.