Girl

• Lily Guardia, Grade 9
• Poetry
• 2016

There is a tired little girl
With thoughts too big for her small world
The bags beneath her eyes
Sag with the weight of all her lies
Exhaled with every breath
The secrets she locks inside her chest
Fumbling from her lips
A mixture of philosophy and gaucherie slips
The paradox of her soul
A panjandrum and altruist and nothing at all
Her emotions have no middle
An incongruous mixture of too much and too little
She said, “My lungs are filled with ink
I vomit what I think
My mouth is full of meaningless words
My pages are full of the worries I’ve stirred.”