when you came down to earth, the stars sent you with nothing but a parting message burned into the skin of your infant palms that your mother spent her whole life trying to forget: brave child, you come from the stars like all the brave children who came before you and all the brave children to come after you. your bones were made in forges of starfire. your heart clenches like a supernova ready to burst. you will never walk alone in the night. but brave child, you were forged to fall upon the point of a sword. your lungs were meant to drown, be it in sunlight or in starlight. your blood is bound to spill upon the earth as surely as your soul is bound to fly among the stars. so brave child, choose wisely and choose early: what sword-point would you fall by? what trampled battlefield or back-alley pavement would you have your blood flow on? what sky would you gaze last upon? choose wisely and choose early, my brave child– –for if you do not someone else will decide for you.
letter for the starshine child ( j.p. )
