La Niña
By <font color=crimson>Faith •
<font size=2>The heat
rises and fades
off her skin
as she peels
back the
layers.
They are
her armour.
Her exoskeleton.
What she
falls back on
when all else
has failed her.
She cannot possibly
exist without it--
and yet
there she stands
raw and exposed.
Free.
Free to be
who she wants,
but choosing
instead
the easy way
in.
The path
to Utopia.
So she takes
one last
longing glance
at the girl
she should be,
then climbs
back into
herself.
And into a life
she never
wanted
to begin with,
yet lives
for fear
of truly living.
There are
empty grey skies
in the back
of her
blue eyes.
A storm
is brewing
and she has
slipped away.
Dead while
still alive.
©2004