WishingWell

She wished.

No, I wished.

She wished hard.

I wished hard on a star that there was no telling 

if it could actually hear me from where I was.

She wished despite being sure whether or 

not she could be heard, not being sure whether 

or not she was heard was normal enough for her 

to proceed without overthinking or worrying too much. 

I wished. Sometimes I would recite the wish like a prayer. 

Other times I wouldn’t know what to wish for & 

just let one fall off the tip of my tongue much

 like one does when blowing out birthday candles.

She wished so hard, crossed her fingers, 

closed her eyes so tight with all the superstition 

bullshit she did not believe in & made her wish.

I wished & did not believe it, the wish, 

the falsehood that this ball of fire would answer any wish of mine,

 that it would hear anything I had to say. I was used to not being heard. 

She wished, but though she 

would deny it she cried a little afterward.

I wished, the dust within my eyelids, 

disturbed by me digging up old childish dreams,

 if they could be attended to, then maybe I would 

indulge just enough to give in, 

to give them stars some real adult pain.

She wept. Not because she was sad, 

but because her pockets were empty & 

she wished to make an accompanying wish, 

one that the molecules of salt within those

tears could speak for themselves.

I wished hard & like a flash of light, 

I saw shooting stars, one after the other after 

hearing my wish stars decided to go on either strick 

or put in their letters of resignation, leaving in a single file line.

She wished.

I wished, & later felt funny indulging in such a 

child-like pass time. This delusion of wishing is 

no different than the illusion of dreaming. 

How can one dream without going to bed, going to sleep? 

How does one make a wish without a wish to make of that wish or 

a wish taker to take such a wish?

She stumbles for words to brush off her judgment.

The whys flood her mind like insulin in a diabetic, 

a soldier into a war, like words looking for a writer, 

all something, someone, looking for something, 

some act of being a hero.

I wished. Wished with a lackluster sense of humor, 

because I am an adult & these are child affairs. 

I hope those moments will pass & 

the wish granted will have been present.

She wished. Wished hard. 

Looking back it looks like it feels so long ago, 

but it was only moments behind the present.

I wished cause I used to be her or here

She wished.