not alone

I’m sure I never knew
that a girl’s wings
could be broken
so badly.  

it took many shots,
for she is a fighting thing,
but slowly, it all came apart,
and she began to fall.  

don’t get me wrong -
she is human, just like the rest of us;
we all have wings.
you just usually can’t see them.  

so she, a real, human girl
started to fall.  
that’s when they came, of course,
from all imaginable sides,

tearing her apart.  

skin from bone,
heart from body,
some merciless, some unwitting,
but all so effective.  

it’s not the falling that’s the worst,
she tells me;
it’s the landing. . .
and I realize something.  

I realize
that no one had been there
to catch her,
or to break her fall.  

I look at her,
and realize how hard it can be
to find a friend
with whom to trust what's most valuable

when it’s so difficult
to tell truth from lies,
or when a simple misunderstanding
can separate so easily.  

it’s then I decide
that I not only
should stand by her,
but that I will,

to be a parachute of sorts,
and trust myself not to fail;
to try and stop this
from ever happening again.  

you see,
for the world,
there is no easy way,

and no one should have to
go through this alone.