a doorframe is equal parts
tragedy and miracle
something lost and
something found
the unsteady feet of the girl
who stands at the precipice
of putting paces between
who she was
and who she will become
the grass of dawn will soon
tickle her ankles
her toes will press bare into the mud
as she accepts the dirt
lining her skin
knowing it is important to stray far sometimes
knowing that too much thinking
can block her thoughts
at their most raw and ripe with ideas
she will learn that
tears cannot fall in every warped
game of immersion
sinking into her pool of sorrow
she expects it will soak her through
and cleanse all of the grime stuck to her skin
but that is not how this works
she must understand
that there are days in which storms
will flood the driest lands
on days unprepared for a disaster
that she will have to pick up the pieces to a puzzle
she did not know
existed
there will not be a path to everything
healing is turning away from the pavement
and sinking into the soil of the earth
it is lying beneath the stars
body in the sand, palms to the sky
it is the wind of a rainstorm
as your legs extend
one after the other
bare feet colliding with wet cement
arms stretched wide
a butterfly taking flight
and so the girl stands,
her left hand on the doorframe
and the right already reaching beyond
the view is entirely unknown
an unpaved world
coiled roots unfolding
like questions collecting in a garden
she does not know her way around
poisonous or prosperous?
the guidebook must be rewritten
she does not know how this world will feel
how this view will settle
in her mind
in weeks, months,
years from now
when she stumbles back to this moment
in reflection of all that has happened beyond
the doors of the house she once thought
was the entire world
all the girl can do is breathe
as her toes hover above the grass
uncertainty fueling every
backwards glance
but it is the fear of never knowing
that finally makes her lift her palm
from the metal frame
sink both feet into the earth
and close the door behind her
the key still twisted in the lock
