Above. Between. Below.
This is a found poem with all the lines taken from The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater.
ABOVE
Secrets—
Admitting you had secrets
Was not the same as
Telling them.
Edge of a truth,
A landscape with no map.
The light extinguished
There it goes.
The end of the world
Came and went without note.
Inky black ahead,
Inky black behind.
There was nothing left.
Monotony
Kept going
No one dug down past that.
BETWEEN
She was not lost,
Find me.
From the smoke,
Into the fire.
She didn’t look away.
That feeling of being known
Instead of hiding
That was a losing game.
Given this secret:
It was a weapon,
It was a crisis,
It couldn’t exist.
Facing the thing I was afraid of
Here in the test of mettle:
He who flinched first
Died first.
This was why it was secret.
BELOW
Remind me of what I am:
Something more.
Hoped for something more
Deeper and Truer
Doubly known,
Familiar.
Heart remembered.
Was he supposed to be remembering?
Breathe.
The recorder was stuck,
Playing only this moment.
Thought-wished-longed-dreamt.
I’m overfull on secrets
And underfed on friends.
The loneliness.
It could be something beautiful instead.
She tried.
If you cannot be unafraid
Be afraid and happy.