On her wedding day she smiled at me She looked beautiful, complete with her new bangles, They chimed in discord as she waved at me, ‘It’s a present’ she mouthed, pointing to him gleefully 'An infinite circle, what a lovely wedding present', I thought I always knew it was her from a mile away Those bangles spoke louder than her words ever could ‘You want to get some ice cream?’ she would yell in my direction Running up the stairs two at a time, bangles clinking against each other, glass against glass, yellow against red, like a disorderly sunset striving to put on a show Like a classroom full of kids talking all at once, Disharmonious and often downright annoying But a comforting sign of happiness and life She’d always come by running up the stairs, two at a time Wrists adorned with the colours of the rainbow, pastel blue, lavender rose, delicate lilac, and some I didn’t recognize Tinted with the shades of twilight, glazed with the stars twinkling in the night sky But lately she had been different More fragile she had become, with the passing of time She felt the weight of the bangles around her wrist now Bangles or handcuffs, she didn’t quite know Unbearable they had gotten, mimicking her life A marriage or a lie, she wasn’t quite sure Today, I heard those bangles and prepared for my routine ice cream call, Suddenly, the clinking stopped, replaced by a piercing scream I ran to the door and looked down the stairs, There she stood, clutching her wrists, bare like the autumn tree, blood trickling down her wrists, tears streaming down her face Little pieces of glass, strewn all over the stairs Shattered on the floor, sepia shades reflecting off their smooth curves ‘No more’, she cried, ‘I refuse to do this anymore’ And it seemed like all joy had left her world for one split second But then I remembered, she was her own rainbow, she was her own light in the dark, her own protector She didn’t need a bangle to define her She was her own patronus… (at Washington, DC) https://www.instagram.com/p/Boo8FzYH8cS/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=rm1oav2pr7i6








