pieces lay scattered
across the floor
the glory of what we had
the spark in your eyes
it is gone
i see it there no more
i tried to fix it
i tried to pick up the pieces and put it back together again
but the truth is that things
could never be the same
as they were before

    My branches, though some may be bare and brittle, and others thick and strong, extend for long distances in all directions. The leaves on me rustle gently as a breeze blows through the forest, awakening all the life I hold. Birds tweet as they perch next to each other up on my highest canopy, basking in the morning sun. A squirrel scampers up my trunk, twitching its nose in concentration as it hunts for the acorns it hid...

Who are they to tell me I cannot wear my hair this way? Who are they to tell me I cannot share my thoughts with the world? Who are they to beat down upon my young mind, small compared to theirs, but still bursting with bright ideas and emotions?

And why do they tell me I cannot like this person, for it isn't right? Why do they tell me I cannot be who I am, but must fit this image...

Curious... how one day a small change can alter a much larger area and create a tumultuous uprising.
Curious... how one footprint can create miles upon miles of deeply gouged tracks.
And so curious... how a person can concoct a tale of wildest proportions, with raging seas and thieving pirates, or astronauts encountering aliens on another planet.
The child opens his eyes in awe and wonder, the world around him not yet anything more than his young imagination. Soon, he will...

It's the feeling of being there for them that really counts. When it's past ten o'clock and you know you should both be sleeping, but all you want to do is keep talking to them on the phone. When you're having a sleepover and you're both just laying out in the grass on their front yard. The feeling you get when you make yourselves laugh until your stomachs hurt. The feeling of knowing you can cry in front of them,...