Patient Lights

You are young when you realize disappointment leaves
The tangy taste of blood and berries
Caked on to the cave of your throat
You are no wiser when you believe him, when he says
That he will not kill and the cub
Of your heart is safe from glint of gun and snare

This too is a chase.

When he cups your face:
Bite
Keep the sun under your claws and light the lie
With a forest’s fury
Think fire, stampede, your friend’s bruises
Your uncle’s cracked glass
Think of shelter beyond this boy’s body

You will need it.

He will say you are oversized shirts and
Miles of hair
You are not this
You are not your music, your persona
You are the girl who meets ghosts
You hold their hands and take them home
You are this kindness
This secret

The cub will live to dance

That’s what they say, where I’m from
My sisters sculpt her spinning
Kissing the stars
You too belong to those

Patient lights.

By Elisa Vita

Biography:

Elisa Vita is a 17 year old art student and writer from Quebec, Canada. She speaks to the plants and trees that she paints (Italian to the flowers, French to the pines, English to the rest). She dreams of writing books, days spent making art, and one day having a greenhouse in her very own backyard. Her room is full of loose papers and napkins, covered with verse.