By the time I was born
The sun was already setting
You read the directions
and follow the pattern

Just ordinary
My heart thumps
a stiff cardboard backing
tumbling lose in a jar
gleaming like candy

I was every kind of beautiful
I loved with my whole heart
pastel blue, pastel pink, pastel yellow.
Wow.

Even to articulate it now
feels uncomfortable
The world,
always far darker as a child.
I harbored a fantasy
half fearful, half escapist,
Some far away land.

I understand now.
The winsome, the willowy, and the overwhelming.
Like Halloween costumes on the outside

Remember Those?