Por Stefania Elizondo de 5to semestre
Diamonds can’t break,
they said, grinning, thinking
it would fix the cracks.
Jewels are forever
if you find the real ones,
they offer, believing it would
weave the doll back together.
Pearls grow out again,
they beam, expecting to
pull the corners of the page
up and see a hued picture.
Lullabies are always heard,
they grin, supposing
it would summon back a melody
long lost and forgotten.
Joints will pop,
muscles will rip,
tissue will tear,
tears might fall to
blur the painful image of
a love no longer her own.
Breaths will flee,
eyes will close,
cries will rive,
bones are shattered into
a million pieces crushed by grief.
Diamonds can’t break,
they mumble, turning away
from the fractured girl.
Jewels are forever,
at least they would be
if they were real,
they stutter, watching
as the sows were completely split.
Pearls grow out again,
they hiss out through
clenched teeth, knowing
there would be nothing but
scribbles of searing pain
in the blank page.
Lullabies are always heard,
they mutter, afraid to listen
to the silent weeps of
an already wilted flower.
And when her heart breaks,
the love she had slips away,
her smile falls from her chapped lips,
and her laugh cuts short in her throat,
they will know she lost the game
she would have played
for a lifetime if only she had
not played against a god, a devil.
She popped her joints loose,
she ripped her muscles to shreds,
she tore her tissue apart,
and her tears did fall in
salty rivers that drowned her.
She chased her breath away,
she pressed her eyes close,
she rived her throat with her cries,
and her shattered bones became
the thorns in her rusted crown.