A Princess Grows Up
on the day you went missing
i washed out socks
watched the grime left by stinging words
swirl away from
these toes that had felt tenderness drift through silty sand
packing in the last of summer's heat
now housed the splinters you left behind
on the day you went missing
i took them off for the last time
a tinge of red on white
near their tops
wrung them out
hung them to dry
toughened my eyes
there were things to do.
copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2018
Posted for Poets United
i washed out socks
watched the grime left by stinging words
swirl away from
these toes that had felt tenderness drift through silty sand
packing in the last of summer's heat
now housed the splinters you left behind
on the day you went missing
i took them off for the last time
a tinge of red on white
near their tops
wrung them out
hung them to dry
toughened my eyes
there were things to do.
copyright/all rights reserved Audrey Howitt 2018
Posted for Poets United
