To Perceive

She pulled at the ties, murmuring logic in sickly sweet tones.
She breathed in yesterday and let it go-
Released it so it would burst in the Sun.

She pulled apart the threads-
The connections of skin and nerve endings until
She saw the world in a new and different way.
She hid behind the mirror,
Asking her reflection to play sentinel
As she learned to crawl past old, dead ends.

She released the marrow from its bones
And woke up the music in songbirds' throats.
She whispered dreamscapes into wide-open minds and
Tried to breathe back in the dawn.
She's tired and worn; somehow still moves on.

She sings about bags of wool as she
Replays old nursery rhymes against her teeth and palate.
She snips fragments of red cloth and paints them
Into a cohesive picture…
But there's no big bad wolf to gobble her whole.
(Just her own actions and lack of control.)

She pulls at the ties,
And manages to free her hands…
And her hands are wings and dreams and
The chance to wake up and sing.
She says to you,
We can start again.
You open dream-woken eyes and pull it all
Apart until you manage
To believe again.