There are mornings when I view the world as a masterpiece.

I see sunlight fall out of the sky as if it were reaching toward only me,

settling only upon my skin.

I want to whisper up to it. 

I try to tilt my head far enough back to speak past the atmosphere, 

but it never seems far enough,

never seems to listen. 

Or maybe, I have forgotten how to speak sun languages.

My only wish is to say, “Thank You.”

My only desire is that my body will house enough gratitude

so that even from decades away the universe can see I loved it dearly.

It will see how I stood on the edge of the world and never fell.

How I climbed enough mountaintops to have intimate conversations 

with the clouds living there. 

Here on this crumbling soil and often neglected blue sea,

this little girl’s heart stood outside with the starry sky 

and felt thankful each night to be alive. 

She spread out her arms like butterfly wings,

let her hair fall free and reminded herself that 

she 

is 

only 

human.

That this small and simple life has always 

set her free.

~