A Warning Poem

I am the girl you were warned about.

The girl built from fire and stone―

The girl who swallows the stars and extinguishes the sun―

The girl who will either build empires or raze them to the earth―

The girl who leaves ash and moondust in her wake.

The girl made to create

and to destroy

―because aren’t they just the same thing?

The girl who reaches out towards the sky,

pulling her hand back as though

she can grasp the clouds themselves.

The girl who rinses her hands with scalding water,

contemplating the cruel irony that the water can burn.

The girl who sits upon a throne of jewels and bones―

who wears a crown of tarnished gold

The girl who is not manic,

nor a pixie,

nor a dream.

I am the girl you were warned about:

The girl who lives.

The girl who survives.