Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest
Rings Around My Heart
by Ever Twinwood
Twentieth Contest
First Place
three rings around my heart
pens and passions and poems
loved and loving and fearing the world
and all the same embracing it
sister, you are
a girl of short hair and snap bracelets
feminism and daydreams
a fragile soul hidden beneath the bold melody of your voice
raised in debate
or perhaps a song
or a laugh
or if I'm lucky
a whispered truth
you dance in the rain
sporting
freckled shoulders and moody gray eyes
hair brown — no, red — no, bronze — no, blue —
a glint of silver in your straw-colored brow
another at the tip of one ear
a girl of beauty
wisdom
dance
and risk
a girl of fear and hope
afraid to love and too often scorned
yet falling now all the same
sister, you are
a girl of passion and temper
tumbling brown locks straightened beneath an iron
like they try to tame the path before you
rambling in a hundred different directions in search of something more
a star-and-laughter girl
hurt hidden always beneath a smile
flashing eyes of green
and a sharp voice cutting against anything wrong
all-accepting archer that you are
a girl of self-reliance and whims
so conflicted inside
you never show your feelings
but burst into tears alone
closest ally in my childhood exploits
once so ready to take the lead
now something stops you
but still
you are never afraid to reach
sister, you are
a girl of kindness and loyalty
quick to tears and quicker to fight
you protect the ones you love
you came to us
in a time of confusion
and revealed secrets
and freedom
but sometimes I think you were always by my side
a girl too brave
for fear
or love
or earth
to tie you down
a girl of paint and flour and dirt
of crazy waving arms
with shorn blonde hair and rainbow studs
thin and tall and eyes of ice
so strong in your identity
a girl so afraid to see someone follow in your steps
yet there is endless good to be followed
three rings around my heart
pens and passions and poems
loved and loving and fearing the world
and all the same embracing it
bound together
bound to me
forever
and ever
more