Water
No one tells it what to be, how to be
Water flows continuously,
water keeps going,
Content with what it is.
Made up of many molecules, all vital for the element
I, too,
Am composed of so many things
All essential to make me who I am
Though it is not always
Viewed that way.
And when the moon is risen
Darkness has fallen on the world,
there is light, reflection, in the lakes and rivers,
Reflection in ourselves.
Reflected in the water, I am
Crooked
Light refracted
Simply the girl who has the
Awkward smile,
thoughts she doesn’t
Say,
Emotions in her eyes,
and legs that are her chains—but only if
That girl allows
Her legs to define her.
I make a choice
When I look at my
Reflection
One foot on the water
The reflection ripples, is
Gone,
Unreliable.
Unreliable like my legs can be
Unreliable as my steps, legs shaky,
One foot drags behind me,
Binding me, holding me
Down
But I am not the way I walk
When I look into the water, there is so much
And so little
I can see
I can see how I hold myself
I can see my legs,
I can see all the little things
The tells—
Fingers digging into my skin;
Arms tight with anxiety;
Head tilted downward;
Eyes meeting the floor—
That make me
How I don’t want to be seen.
The way
I don’t want others
To view me.
When I look into my reflection,
I wonder
Is my reflection all that other people see?
There is so much more
Beneath the surface of the water
So much more
Beneath my surface
If only people are brave enough
To dive beneath the water
God put my cerebral palsy
On my surface
God put my
Crossed eyes
Hesitant smile
Crooked legs
on my surface
But what a blessing it is
My reflection isn’t all of me
Through my reflection
I teach others to see
Not everything is as it seems
Not everything can easily be defined
Not everything can fit into a label
I am not made up of labels.
For those that choose to see
My inside
Hopefully you see
The happiness
in my awkward smile
The emotions
in my crossed eyes
The effort
in my gait
And all that my reflection can’t
Show you,
Or tell you.
My reflection can’t tell you
How grateful I am for kindness
My reflection can't tell you
My passions
My goals
All I have gone through,
All I have done.
My reflection is limited,
Is so flawed
Not just because
my legs are flawed
But because
The reflexion shows my physical struggles
Only
My outward appearance
Only
My reflection is accurate to those who see
With their eyes,
Not with their heart.
Water goes with the flow
Is content with the way it is
Water offers so much to the world
Is seemingly simple,
But made up of so many complex
Parts, so many
Molecules.
As I step through the water,
The next challenge
In my life,
My left knee bent toward
My right leg,
My arms tight
Against my sides,
My eyes crossed, yet seeing so much;
My left foot, turned inward though it is;
Strikes the water
Shatters my reflection
And I smile
The watery reflection never represented me,
Truly,
anyway.
I am like water.
Content with who
I am,
Made up of
So many things,
Seemingly simple,
I can offer so much
To the world—
If only people see
Past my reflection.