Take your thoughts,
put them in a box under your bed
lock the key
and give the key to the walls.

Clench your jaw tight.
a fire started
with the damper closed.
let the smoke fill your lungs,
and escape through your nose and ears.

Give those snow drop flowers
to boys with soot on their hands.
watch grey engulf white.
tell yourself you are not the flowers.
tell yourself tainted
doesn’t mean broken.

Commit to the same banal routine.
let yourself walk
with conscience.
and tell yourself it’s safer this way,
that no one got hurt staying on the path,
that you would not be as naive
as that girl in the red cape.