On the first day of the storm there was thunder
The frame shook
The glass cracked
And the child cried for her mother
And the mother cried
And the father cracked
And the glass blew away in the wind

As the days passed
And the storm raged
And the father grew
And the mother hid
And the frame broke
And her voice was drowned
By the sound of falling walls
By the lightening on the lawn
By the wheezing of the gale
By the TV down the hall
The child covered her ears

On the fifth day of the storm there was silence
She didn’t hear the thunder
Or the screaming in her chest
Or the fracturing of wooden beams
As the house was blown away
Or the curses of her father
Or the silence of her mother
But she saw it as it crumbled
And she tried to put it back together
They said she brought the storm
And she said that she was sorry
She couldn’t hear her name
But she looked into the mirror
And saw as bolts of lightning
Set to flame what she had left
So the child closed her eyes

On the tenth day of the fire there was darkness
She couldn’t see the smoke that gagged her
Or the burns across her body
Or the soot that stained her face
Or the coals stuck to her feet
Or the ashes on the wind
That used to be her home
That used to be her family
She didn’t know where they went
She couldn’t see the splinters
As the foundation cracked
She could feel their scraping fray
But she couldn’t see the exit
So she cried out one last time
Though she couldn’t hear her voice
For any god to answer
To forgive what she had done
Because surely she deserved this
Because children believe in justice
But there was nothing left to her
With which to pay her penance
So she cried
And she begged
And she pleaded
And she clawed
At the blisters on her chest
At the tar that was her skin
It was clear no one was coming
So she pulled out her own heart
To protect it from the fire
And she locked it in a safe

She waited in the void and in the tenth year of the absence the child cracked
She fought and she fought
Because all she knew to do was fight
Against the walls inside the safe
Vacant and alone
She couldn’t see the medic
When he came to make her well
She couldn’t hear the lover
When they called her beautiful
She couldn’t feel the fingers
As they held her to their chest
She couldn’t smell the food
She couldn’t hear the jokes
She couldn’t produce laughter
She couldn’t produce tears
She couldn’t sense their presence
She couldn’t taste the air
She had no fist to raise
She had no tongue to speak
She had no hands to reach out
She had no skin
She had no nails
She had no lungs
She had no breath
She couldn’t feel the warmth or cold
She wasn’t even there

On the first day of the sunlight there was nothing