Opposites BY Kayla Hall

I.

If October is a lion May is a lamb.
Is it too soon to be a lion?
Perhaps October is a tiger,
the colors fit.
Summers green reveals autumns
orange and black glowing eyes like candle light.

Earlier today I felt a breeze.
As wind ran through my hair
it cooled my scalp,
my hair couldn't move though.
My ginger locks covered by a helmet,
like a firefighter trying to contain a flame.

And this too sparked my imagination.
In the corner a flicker of though crossed my mind,
what if I'm not fire.

Once in a dream I was water,
I saw things
screams trapped in air.
The people were turned into stone,
they couldn't dance like a flame
or glide like the water.

II.

I never thought life could be rushed.
Children wanting to grow up,
but grown ups want to be young.
Children unknowingly want to be themselves.

Believe me what happens next is worse.
We segregate ourselves,
finding only differences.
Making people feel like large trolls.
They hide in a corner.

The worst thing eve said to me
was a list of things.
I was the troll.
I had been given an exorcism,
not real, but they flung water.

These days I grew strong.
but some days I struggle,
torn in two.
A drop forms, a tear.
Makes for a pretty picture though.

Listen, my life was not rough.
I saw struggle in my home
but I could not claim it was mine.
Makes you think
why continue?
No one gets out alive.

Once in October I thought
life was better for her.
Maybe it made her stronger,
the tiger.

But it is not October it's May.
Hidden in the lambs coat
beneath the cotton plants
is darkness.
Fake smiles and blinding sun.