When they show you what you’re lacking, and you cannot afford to live without it.

I know that I must have become numb

and lost all feeling

Because I still remember the day that my friends came over

(I owe it to my friends–all of my healing)

And they heard my mother, who, unaware of their presence

Accused me of stealing

Snacks at midnight, of hoarding food and eating it alone–

And when I walked out to see them

They told me that I looked beautiful

They handed me a flower, and said I was like the stem.

The strong pillar beneath that becomes a blooming bud

I felt warmth and safety, and that heat

that melted my heart, that kindness that feels sweet

at first, that relief at knowing that someone out there

can still love you, can see you for who you are and for that reason care–

My face was unaccustomed to smiling;

my armor unaccustomed to feeling flower petals

raining from the sky.

I had no clue that people who claimed to care about me

could even be tender–

If this was what a support system was, then I could fly.

––Leaving and forgetting my childhood home became easy.