If you loved me now
As I am,
Oh, how would I detest you
In turn!
For there is more to me
Than ashes
More to me than rubble
More to me than what you see
More to me than what I show
More to me than even I know.
I am not a puzzling Sphinx,
I am not a damsel in distress
I am not a senseless being
I am not an alternating current.
If you loved me now,
Then you would be a settler
Plundering the gold, the silver
Burning futureless saplings
Then I would be no better.
Like me all you want.
Lust after me.
But don’t you dare love this me.
Love who I’m becoming.
-Melisa Im
[Image: “The Trees Are Dying” protected by a Creative Commons license belonging to Taro Taylor]
Illustrated by Meli 