Stelle

a nutshell couldn’t hold her story-
wasn’t room enough for all the trying,
all the tales of reason and precious, undefeated glory
she forgot when she was young and needed
dreams to live, to sing their fresh imploring
beg for another hour

the feeling of impoverished hope and a wish or two
drowning in an oceanic pool of things they told her
and she believed she could never do
when wanting wasn’t quite enough for a girl
who guessed only she could be the one- make them come true
long to taste power

to this day He catches all her tears in jars
then sprinkles them like drops of silver- something beautiful
and the rest of us call them stars

it would only take one more time around the sun
before everything woven together- so that
a thousand could be made into more like one-
would tremble beneath threads of doubt and empty spaces
and gradually, silently come undone
whisper angry goodbys

but she remembered lovely promises of old
not ever withheld from her- but for a while kept secret,
lingering on lips and too great to be left untold
promises that said there was more to life
than flames of hope and trying blowing cold
touch reachable skies

and even then He catches all her tears in jars
and scatters them like dancing- everything wonderful
and the rest of us call them stars

she knew she could fall in love with love again
try to bring back all that yesterday had stolen and held
locked away in its tight and unforgiving hands
and she wondered how to change a hurting world when hurting
was all it seemed she ever had
sing of more

but trial quarreled with victory just like before but now in free
and she learned how to let it search for the wind
to carry it away so she could stand up and see
the blessing behind the black walls and invisible prisons
that drew her away from learning how to simply live and be
keep turning

and one more time He’ll catch all her tears in jars
and splash them like infinity through the sky- nothing so lasting
perhaps we’ll always call them stars