Diamonds

I am afraid to speak up because historically,

Fantastical females have been burned at the stake

And although I do not believe in witchcraft

I cannot deny that magic flows through these veins

And I wonder if they burned so that you and I could rise from the ashes

But there are still embers here and it is hot hot hot

So hot that I melt and disconfigure until, I don’t even recognize myself

But some force,

Presses us until we are beauty

We are diamonds

Passed around from the rubble,

To a display case

To a ring

To a box in the attic collecting dust

A freeze-frame of when love had no limits

I try to see myself but am blinded by the burning reflections of light around, through,

and within

me

Light is refracted from the plain white light inside me into the rainbows of all the XX

chromosomes that walked so I could run

And it feels like I am betraying them

To stay sat in this box

But this history is heavy

And I’m scared to move because

“What if I drop it?”

My identity is so fragile that I worry pride will shatter it

So I stay silent.