This Place

Are you where you’re meant to be
Paint washed off your face
Dirt wiped from your knees
How did you know that the place you were before
Was not the place to be
Was it when you cheeks ghosted white
Or when you wrists were held
Down tight
Was it when he pulled the eyes
From your favorite strawberry scented
Baby
Maybe when he carved out her mouth
Volatile silent threat
It took so long to grow in that place
Stomped and stunted in a garden
Made of rocks
The heartbeat of the earth
No longer felt
He tied to you a rough and splintery rope
To always drag you down
Rip and tear your hope
Maybe though, to lead others to you
Others who might hold your face
But split your throat
In two
Others who might dance around the fire
Pulling you in, all the way in
Burning the pieces of you
You stumbled and oh how you fell
Cracked bones and shattered skull
Blood spilling into the lull
Until your body froze
Flowers growing up through your veins
And you realize
You are now where you were meant to be
Where he never wanted you to be
In a place where there is no pain
No suffering, nothing to gain
A place
Where he is not