the moon and me
when i was young, everything was meant to be. like how i lived in amber-colored dreams and hid when mom and dad would yell and scream. like how the moon would hold my hand and trace my steps and follow my lead. and glass would shatter as neighbors eagerly chattered, “this poor child has nowhere to go.” but i had no care for their burdened stares because the night sky would carve your every face, your pearl white crevices holding pools of grace that would carry me far, far away. when i was young, everything was meant to be. like how the kitchen light would cast shadows upon an abandoned dinner table and remind me to lock the door every tuesday when mommy wasn’t stable. like how the moon would whisper to me that it had to go, it’s time was up, the seeds were sown. because when i was young, everything was meant to be. like how autumn trees would shed its leaves and spring would welcome the flowering of green. like how the moon would fall down, down deep into the sea, and rise up again with desperate pleas that it would always come back to me.
Khai-Linh Kaitlyn Thai is a Vietnamese American rising junior at Austin College majoring in public health with a desire to pursue dentistry.
The Albion Review 