🍰💛
May 26th written in the stars
by Sanai Rashid
I once had a dream of a grand party
with balloons, feminine chiffon dresses
and three-layered buttercream cake.
Because as a girl you are taught
to dream for the stars and leap for the moon.
But no matter how hard mommy and daddy
hold your hand, and feed you with a silver spoon
reality will get the better of you at
sixteen.
You start to realize that the stars aren’t
as sparkly as they once were.
Dull to your brown eyes, their twinkle
forever enveloped in a world of blackness.
Still, before bed each night
you peek out of your window
to wish upon a star.
Then you learn that only 12 people
have walked on the moon.
And most of them were just white dudes
who look nothing like you.
So instead of looking at that
gleaming dumpling in the sky,
you start drawing a waxing gibbous
on the New York concrete. Sidewalk
scuffs as your craters.
Because so much of life is wishing
for a grand banquet, until you realize
you’ve had a Thanksgiving meal in your
lap all along.
With each passing birthday,
when they say
You can’t have your cake and eat it too
I shake my silly little head and smile.
I learned how to savor each crumb,
icing nib, and sprinkle a long time ago.
Yes, you can have two good things
at the same time.
And I don’t care if my
wishes upon those stars never come true,
and I never get to cradle the moon between
my cocoa butter palms.
Because before you fly
you have to let go of all that shit
weighing you down.
There are still a lot of things
I need to address on Earth
before I hop galaxies, destinies, and lands.
If fifteen has taught me anything,
it is that quinceaneras only last a year.
You last a lifetime.
Maybe sixteen is just another number.
But if you don’t mark some moments of life
as remarkably, extraordinarily special —
you’ll blink and miss those extra shiny stars,
the even brighter smiles, and the little things
that separates today from the everyday.
Godbless May 26th
for squeezing me out of her pages
and letting me write this poem to you
because I love having you in my life
never get that confused.
And I thank the Earth, the moon, mars
and those damn bright stars
for the tree of life that extends unto me
and unto you.
