you are a shared secret kept between cupped hands; you are the first drizzle of spring, the laughter-filled nights of summer.
(there is static in your head and in your heart— breathe, and remember that you are more than what your reflection tells you.)
longing paces circles in your heart. the want for more thrums just under your skin, and in your blood there are a thousand wolves howling, necks craned back in prayer to the moon.
(you are not a monster for wanting more than what has been offered to you.)
count the stars, and count the distance between where you are and where you want to be.
(just because icarus fell doesn’t mean you will.)
stand beneath the night sky and let the wind run cold fingers along your arms; let the air scrape your throat with each inhale, let it sit in your lungs like something precious.
(the night sky is deep enough to get lost in. just like life. just like you.)
PISCES
you are not atlas, and they are not your responsibility.
(the weight of your world is heavy enough without trying to carry other people.)
one day, you will wake up and realize that you are happy, and you should be around to see it.
(darling, you do not need to have it all figured out now.)
you are the nostalgia of swing sets; you are the smell of petrichor, you are a childhood lullaby, only half-remembered.
(who you want to be is never out of reach.)
close your ears to them— your dreams are no one’s but your own, so never let them take that away from you.
(you have a star within you, and it burns bright.)
you are not an island; you are the sky, and when you hurl down lightning and rainfall, you are not hurting only yourself.
(please treat others the way you wish to be treated.)
those memories are stamped onto your eyelids, I know; but, when they come to you, unbidden, in the night, do not cringe. do not cry. do not waste your time regretting.
(you are not who you were then.)
take down their pictures; delete their numbers from your phone.
(your garden is dead, dear; do not waste your love on corpses.)
you are the sting of tears; you are the first snowfall of winter, the burnished golds of fall.
(believe in yourself the way you believe in others.)
—to the signs: you are loved, you are loved, you are loved. | e.c.s