Love Story (Where The Sun Takes You, Part III)
by Tamika Hughes
“Tell me a story,” you said,
“One that wows, then slowly drifts me to sleep.”
How about I tell you the one first formed years ago,
Yet unfolding still,
The one about the girl who stayed a girl into her adult years,
The girl who struggled to understand, exist in, be but so vulnerable to
The world, until one day, as if by some unconjured magic,
She found her place in it by your side.
The girl who withstood too many winters
Kept burrowed deep, her path toward the sun so lengthened
She was already wilted when she first broke free from all the dirt,
Was half-bloomed until one ordinary Spring morning when
She surprised the world by breaking full into flower.
The girl who slowly began to know herself,
Picked up the wilted pieces of her life with dirty fingers all too used to clawing,
Assembled them into something almost whole,
Then met you, something still missing within,
Love helping her figure out what belonged in that space,
How to begin to fill it,
Finally allow her arrival to that place in time,
Her origin story,
To be so indelible she could face the dark,
Slip back into earth some days, return full of blossom.
Yes, I’ll tell you the story of the girl who rewrote herself,
Showed up on your doorstep a new woman
Petals of a once forgotten perennial finally open to the sun,
A woman ready to write and co-write new chapters,
Fall deeply into a love that lights the path hard to navigate,
Become, with you, full-bloomed.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tamika Hughes (she/her) is a poet and product manager born and raised in Philadelphia. Since childhood she has been writing poetry and observing nature to find new ways to interpret the world and her place in it. From running or hiking in the Pennypack and Wissahickon park systems to kayaking in Lake Galena and Neshaminy Creek comes a love for witnessing nature and its changes through the seasons.
Mirroring her professional work to discover problems, implement solutions, and learn throughout the process, Tamika writes poetry to record that witnessing of nature and the learnings that inspire her personal growth.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Steven McCrystal lives in a town called Bo’ness in Scotland. He started painting in Art Therapy and found the creative outlet very beneficial. It helped him come to terms with the traumas he’d been through and enabled him to look at his troubles in a different light.
McCrystal enjoys painting abstract art, but his repertoire also consists of emotive work and elements of his bipolar experiences. He has found that there is nothing better than feeling an emotional connection to the art he produces and hopes viewers of his art find that same connection.