there was once a girl whose soul was the

color of honey, and whose feet danced

so lightly on the ground they hardly left

a footprint in the soil below.

sometimes when she laughed it felt as

though the earth shook,

but less like an earthquake and more

like a heartbeat

a thump

thump

thump

of blood in veins and wind in lungs

as though with every breath she took the world breathed with her.

her face was a constellation and her smile the sun

each freckle a dash of glitter in an open sky

and each crinkle by her eyes a fold in

time that seemed to shift everything

and everyone.

and such goodness held itself there in

her chest that she seemed to exist in

technicolor

in hues of azure and crimson and lime

and the world was more radiant, more whole because of it.

see, though she was just one, she held the

hearts of many

so when she smiled, the

world beamed back.