Dear Margaux

Anaiya Asomugha '24

I’ve gotten used to the space a broken heart occupies in my chest

You were the first to ever crack it, and not even the photos of us dancing together in your living room or the feeling of your arms wrapped around me after all this time could ever come close to repairing it You slipped out of my fingers as quickly as sand and drifted off into the sea

Disappearing within the rocky waves I never thought to dive into

And I know life is always changing tides I just didn’t expect you to go along with it.

Dear Margaux, Your absence taught my lips the shape of silence I exhausted your name in my throat and it echoed throughout my mind and body when I ate those chocolate chip cookies you loved But you’d walk past me as if I were a ghost and the sheer coldness in your eyes trapped me like a rose in a painful, eternal winter

And with their hands in mine they lead me down roads disguised with poppies and lavender only to run away and leave me alone in the dark People leave many bruises, sure but nothing hurts like your invisible scars

Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for years we bloomed side by side My roots are coated in your laughter and I still see your brown eyes in the petals that have fallen to the ground

It hurts when you realize that you aren’t as important to someone as you thought you were But our friendship is lost in a crowd of other lonely thoughts from over the years that are nothing but observers collecting their dust

Dear Margaux, My friends don’t know your name And your favorite songs no longer play on the radio Our friendship bracelet fell off of my wrist in the park and I couldn’t bring myself to pick it back up

I thought I had no more room in my soul for pain but people still find ways to chew me up and spit me out

Margaux, I have no energy to fix what you left broken Because sometimes late at night I cry But these tears are no longer for you

Wonder Land