Paper and ink

All set for us to read

Yet those words will not be read

Until years down the road

Used by teachers as shows of

“Years ago”

They will boast and brag

Saying “I taught them what they know”

But you did not teach me these words

The feelings that flow into the papers

That stain darker than the blackest ink

Write me a River

Flowing with tears and fears

And all the emotions that nobody will understand

Until years down the road.

When some child will read

And realize that they too need

Need these stacks of paper and ink.

That will give them more closure than an apology

Write US a River

A River that will flow with praise and syllables

Saying you are so proud to have mentored me

To have watched me go from mixing up my B’s and D’s

To now writing with these words so beautifully

You don’t see the screaming at the words

The tears drying on the keys

When I cannot find the words to express the feelings inside of me

Write me a River.

A River of paper and ink

Then take a match to those syllables and that ink

Write me a River

And know that never,

Never again will you know me.

I will change myself using paper and ink

So you do not know who she could be

She of the smiles and jokes

Rotting from the inside, like an egg

The yolks turned green 

Write me a River

Then take those words and drown them

So you know how I hear those apologies.

Write me a River, then set it aflame, 

So that you never have proof I am anything less than tame

Take my words, and use them to show somebody

Years down the road

That they too need paper and ink, 

Then write them a River

With words that show worlds 

Set years apart

Yet connected

With paper and ink