There is a distance where closeness once lived. 
You drew me into the shadows, then into the light.
We hold the weight of our pasts. Carry the potential of our futures. 
Help me free these beloved artifacts from their life in drawers. 
They say that if we can name it, we can break it. 
All our mysteries are moving with the sun. Don't you see them shining?​​​​​​​
The temperature was sweetness. 
Silver dollar pancakes, grape Bubble Yum, coins for the ice cream truck. I can hear her tune coming around the bend now. 
I know I made her happy when skies were grey.
The present could almost slip through our fingers. Don’t look away now. 
It's here.  
I was playing by myself but I was not alone. "I can’t be sure they are even real," she said.
Her laughter was in the air, in my mind, in my hand.
When I sit this way I can't see you. But I know you, in the breeze and the roses' scent. 
They are all around us.
There are lost stories here. 
The one from her mother. The one from her sister. The one that fit like home. 
She moved seventeen times in her life and only once did she want to. 
Wait, until I remember this feeling. The three of us have been connected for generations. 
She carried the egg that became you her whole life. 

 "I believe in guardian angels," I said. 
And then told her:
You are not alone.
You are not broken.
You don't need to fix everyone or silence yourself.
You are worthy and loved, just as you are.
And with smiles, we covered our hearts.
_______________________________
Images and Words
by Jamie Paratore
Inspired by song lyrics from
Black Belt Eagle Scout, Interpol, and Mazzy Star.
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