Today’s offering is loosely, very loosely, based on the Word of the Day.

 

In the green years of a small life,

a black hole opened up, and

sucked her soul into it.

She became Small Shadow.

*

Small Shadow saw the world

in only the way a soulless being can.

She longed for the carefree days

when green led the way.

*

She lived in the red world,

mostly in dark corners

and curling around poles.

Smiling and performing.

*

She lived in the blue world,

under covers and behind shades,

popping pills and swigging bottles,

a medicated shadow.

*

She lived in the purple world,

with love bombs, then hails of fists,

under a studied annihilation of

the flecks of green remaining in her.

*

Travails through the lands

of red and blue and purple

convinced her green was

merely a lovely dream she’d had.

*

One evening, a shimmering owl

landed in a tree by the step where she sat

It spoke to her of dreams;

it told her to pay close heed.

*

Each night her dreams were filled

with sacred symbols: circles,

crones, flying fish, and peanut brittle.

They all told her go get what she’d lost.

*

She gathered her strongest allies.

She gathered the sacred symbols

from her dreams. She and

her allies adorned themselves with them.

*

The shimmering owl led the way.

They fell into the black hole,

lit by the owl’s glow. There, on a cushion

rested Small Shadow’s heart-shaped soul.

*

It disappeared. Then, Small Shadow’s chest

began to glow, lighting up the cavern.

She and her Allies turned into green butterflies

and burst out of the cave.

*

From that day forward, Small Shadow became

known as Little Green.

Her cottage by the glen remained a refuge

for wayward travelers until the end of her days.

 

Word of the Day Challenge — vacillate