The Gift I Saved For You – Introducing Stephanie Bennett-Henry

I spent a lot of time crawling
around in the dark
trying to avoid the unknown places
where monsters hide.
Careful not to wish for anything,
in fear those wishes would turn
into nightmares
waking me with the cold sweat of fear.
And I slept with one eye open
or I never slept at all.
Sometimes I think maybe
I’ve been sleepwalking
this whole time.
There’s some comfort in that thought.
That I’ll wake up
in a dark hallway and recognize
my surroundings as the home
I believed in, a dream come true
that didn’t wake me to say…
“I was never more than lies disguised as bricks”,
wood painted over with two coats
of someone laughing at me.
But that comfort is nothing
more than a security blanket
I wrap myself in and it’s shredded.
I’m saving those pieces for you.
The monsters found their hiding place
in your…