We Were Just Kids
The skinny ones, the ones your parents warned you about. Held together with water and soda crackers. Our cheeks filthy and our hands like battlegrounds. The whole world was ours for the taking. When you’re four feet tall, the universe is your stomping ground. Limitless. You could have it all. Running in packs until our feet bled, running some more. Stopping only to collect the longest cigarette butts, saving them in an old tin can. Drowning our grief in prayers, sending our prayers out into the cavities of the sky.
We were the wild kids. Freer than horses. Freer than an ocean. Tie a pillow case around our necks, and we swore we could fly. God made us out of skin, bones, and all the hope he had left. Set us in to the world telling us to run, run till your feet bleed. Not even the thunder will stop you. And we did, I swore we did. We ran like giants. Only four feet tall but we could see over the edge of the earth, we could see the sun and the stars. Close enough to stick our straws in it. Close enough to kiss the wings of Icarus.
We were the burning kids. Born from piles of ash. Born from all that was left. We were untouchable. Lighter than the birds. Even the smallest wind could pick us up and spread us as it willed. Maps of the earth etched into the palms of our hands. And it was all ours, like He promised. All the water in the world couldn’t kill us. We swore, four feet tall and we swore, we were mightier than all the gods. We were vaster than all the universe. More powerful than the wind and the rain.
We were the dying kids. Gone before we’d had the chance to breath. Suffocated by dust. Still we ran, ran, ran until we found the answers we were looking for. They don’t dig graves for you when you’re four feet tall. They lay you down in the sun, water you until you plant yourself in the grass, or evaporate like you never there. But I swear, we were there. We’ve seen his promises, we’ve lived his dreams. We dying kids. Dirty knees. Buck teeth. Four feet tall. Lighter than air. We ran until there was no more universe left to see.
