By Ananya Venkatachalam
she gusted in, at first a slight breeze, then a tornado
ripped bricks out of the stronghold, piece by piece
mortar and plaster flew as the swirls intensified
a sudden calm.
rivers of wind to streams of stillness
she comforted the lone girl imprisoned by her own fortified palace
took her by the hand and flew out
beyond the moat, past the wrecked edifice, back into the impatient world
did the defenseless princess need a knight to slay the dragons within her heart
or did the tired warrior need the dying exhale of her ghost to remind her of life?
barriers down.
i need to tell you something.
i may have to leave you someday
i may find my garrison and hide
i may construct more walls to shelter you
to shelter myself.
she nodded, comforted me with that gentle zephyr of hers
i’ll stay for you, i cried
no.
stay for yourself, the wind whistled
i tried to type through the tears
i love you
Ananya Venkatachalam is in 11th grade. She says, "Although the themes of my writing can either be morbid or unsettling, I'm not like that in real life. I think."