Escape

by Tim Aguirre

I was once very, very, shy.

This because I came from another country,

so I often tell that I’m happy and lie.

I was given words designed for maximum damage.

I could still feel the hospital,

that small sound of beep, beep, beep

The lifeless body of my dying mother made me so brittle,

I was just sitting here, worrying that any second, I can never see her again.

I didn’t fit in so I adapted.

I became the least and receded into a shell,

where the outside hardens and leaves me defended.

This shell was made with my different means of escape.

Anything that could keep me away from reality was the material in that shell.

It could go anywhere from video games to books.

I really liked this shell, it is where my dreams could dwell.

but even this couldn’t heal the wound in my heart.

But, deep inside me I knew I needed to get out,

and that there were people trying to find ways in.

I really wanted to stay but I still had my doubts.

Then everything change in one fishing trip.

This is when I opened my shell for my dad,

and he told me a lesson that took time to sink in, and slowly cracked my shell

“Son, life is too short to be sad.”

Then we worked out my problems one by one.

 

This is when I realized.

If someone carves into a small sapling with a knife

the wound is as big as the entire trunk.

Even though that will never heal,

you can grow the tree around it,

and in turn will make that wound smaller.