Her eyes were the most beautiful golden color
I had ever seen,
yet still she longed for brown eyes
like her sisters.
She carried herself with the kind of confidence
that could only be used to hide insecurities.
She loved horses
but was terrified to touch them.
She enjoyed our country
but missed her home.
Maybe that was something like the horses,
missing a place she could not go
longing for a thing she could not touch.
I watched her as she feared and did things anyway.
Her truest self could only be seen
as she reminisced about the days
of sleeping on rooftops
and counting stars.
Now in the city, both were hidden from her.
Stars were replaced by the cold, artificial light
of those who wished to illuminate the world
and instead disguised its beauty.
She had a story
Hidden behind the golden glow of her eyes;
I wondered if I would ever hear it.
Perhaps somewhere within that story
lie the secrets of her past-
the shells of her confidence,
and the reasons she longed to be
just like everyone else.
She had the most beautiful eyes I had ever seen,
but somehow I knew
that behind them was a girl
who just wanted to go home.

-h.e.m.