Rootless and Free
By The Midnight Raven She wished for tomorrow in the evenings, Tangled up in her blankets and her eyelids fluttering open at any sign of light. She wished to wash the previous day from her skin, Scrubbing the ink marks that stained her hands and the dirt that lay under her fingernails with water until they disappeared down the drain. But wishing for tomorrow didn’t make the memories disappear, It just meant another day with thoughts of the past swirling through her head. During the summer, she wished for the frigid winter months. Longing for the protection of wool coats around her shoulders and fur-lined hats to cover her ears that turned pink from the wind’s chill. When sweat sprinkled her brow from the golden beams of the sun, she wished for the feeling of the cold enveloping her within its spidery hands. In winter, there were steaming cups of hot chocolate, holiday specials that only came on the air once a year, and week-long breaks from school. Summer was cutting away her long vermillion hair and a constant anxious feeling that filled her chest as she thought of the ways she wished to change, the ways she never did. She ached for change with each beat of her heart. Change that could let her cut back the unwanted roots that had tied themselves around her ankles and attached her to the barren ground. And she would leave their remains sitting on the cool earth. She longed to be free on the breeze like a sparrow floating through the air, But she was still in her own barred cage. A cage made of gilded metal. A cage built off her own doubts. Soon it would be winter, Winter was her escape, And escape cascaded through the breeze on feathered wings. Wings not clipped back, Head not tucked under the folds of the plume. Rootless and free. 12
