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// Just Weep [Poetry] 
// Story: Missing Pages & Scrawled Footnotes 
// by Ice Star 
//------------------------------//

Like clockwork—
awaken,
rise from the dirt, fallen star—
alone in the sky that is your world
except for one
brush the vibrant pink veil aside
so you might see her
lying there,
form softened with slumber
white hooves— caked with the world's broken flesh
hide your coveted status
reel within,
at what you've become, sleeping no longer
in the dirt
reach out for your blue companion
and wake her as well
she is not as scared as you
smile upon her, and bestow this light in the dark that you fear
her face is smudged with the dust that cakes her quilts
little child, as bright and alone as ever,
she reaches into the bags next to her—
pulling a brush from the tattered brown fabric,
buckle dull with mud
you do not tell her your fear
little voices whispering in the depths of you,
you smile shakily, having yet to master
perfect composure
and in the dark you count the strokes the brush makes in pale blue
that always finds a way to shine true
unlike, little child — princess no longer — unlike you
you build your mask with care with whatever you can gather
from the world that you feel is hollow
of all but dirt
your smile is as dazzling as the sun that hides the night that you alone fear
and upon your head, as if marking your troubled mind
is dirt caked in the shape of the sun
little child, unmarked and forsaken
lie no longer to yourself
just weep