and when it all shifted

the light shone in though the clouds deep gray

and she crawled the holes burst full

she was scared, unsure

but watched the storm blow and blow

away went the veils that others yearned for

to cover her eyes and mind

to inhibit her growth in something new and strange

but grow she did

with the storm to cloak

she grew and grew

into a perfect wild flower

unhindered by their veils

and then it all shifted

the rest dropped away

into their expected guises

folded and formed to forget

what it really meant to grow

and that’s what she wanted

she wanted to her rainbow faces toward the warming

and shed all the layers

they wanted to wrap her in

and shed she did

she let it waft away

in the cold harvest wind as other bundled

to comfort the horde and hide themselves

she quit her guise, shed the cloaks

and stood

a perfect wild brush

full of life and dark

of creatures that roamed and fed

that did not belong and yet she welcomed them

that they would not allow

and yet she loved them

for they too wanted

to toss and move in the frigid gusts

she and they craved

the wind burned cheeks and cold torn toes

that their mother brought

but the horde did not

the horde cursed and swore against their mother’s worst of moods

but she and they blessed and praised their mother’s best of phases

she and they, unfettered in the icy fields

to root and reach for every corner

alone to move

and move she and they did

waving wildly without a care

her rainbow face sang in night

until the sun rose

and the horde came running

the horde laughed and played

as the light slowly embedded itself into all the crevices

her creatures fled, frightened of theses things

so she ran along the horde

laughing and playing

ignoring the horde’s whisperings

delighting in the horde’s stares

they were unready

so she bounced on her way

to stand

and find what she needed next

as her long-gone left a large hole

and stares of the horde did nothing for her

she stood and grew and saw

allowing in to seep in slowly

she was unsure again

as the sun steadily drooped and shifted

in time for the rains