After 26

In the world inside my head,
There is a woman
In a beautiful floral dress
With a train that flows behind her
Like a cape,
Or a pathway outlining every step she's taken
To get to where she is.
She glows;
She emanates power,
This feeling of certainty
In who she is.
She's accomplished everything
That her childhood self dreamed up.
You can see it
In the way she holds her shoulders
And keeps her head up,
While the rest of us
Stare in awe
At this marvellous sight.
“I want to be just like you,”
I would tell her every day.
And she would just smile at me
Like she knew one day
I would be.
Today,
She is blurry
And I am silent.
Her aura seems less like a beacon
And more like a
Lie.
She shakes her head at me—
I know
I've disappointed her.
I want to apologize to her
But she's not the one I'm sorry for.
She turns around
And walks away from me,
Her colours fading,
Her edges softening,
And her light dimming
With every step she takes

In her high heels,
Which make no noise.

-Ris
January 2019
“I’m Lima good.”