You And first, before him and before her and before them there was you. Never forget that. - Nikita Gill

Which is to say, when we feel like life is overwhelming, we must remember that we’re just sparks of energy borrowing skin. That no matter how much this pain feels everlasting, this is just the temporary fabric we are in.

Perhaps
he should have paid attention

to the snakes coiled inside of me
waiting to strike

The prince clears his throat and then says, ‘Fair princess, I will do whatever I can to break the curse that turns you into . . . that thing.’

‘That thing, as you call it,’ the princess says, ‘is the magical part of me. I love being the dragon and the dragon loves me.’

The princess raises an eyebrow. ‘I will love me this way. And I never said I was in want of being someone’s wife.’

‘But if not a wife, you will die an old maid,’ he presses on.

‘I am half dragon, who told you I will ever die at all?