Collecting the Stars

Fearless thoughts

Pushed forward growth

Never imagined

By limited minds

Enclosed in a space

With a fence they constructed

From the skeletons

They battled half heartedly-

Choosing to lose instead

Never stacking the vanquished

Into a ladder

To reach the stars hung by

Those before,

The original goals painted and teased

By a hero and heroin

That were soon surpassed by

The owner of fearless thoughts,

The holder of the head

Of their enemies-

The skull of the vanquished anxieties

Doubts with tongues cut out,

Dried and hanging like a belt

From the coat of a leader of one-

A single figure

Fighting a battle not seen

By those hiding within their

Small spaces-

Their safe gardens,

Never knowing what may lay beyond

Among the wild forest

Where trails vanish

And instinct steps forth,

The creation of all known

And all questioned.

But if asked,

The single fighter

Would lend a hand,

And smile

Come with me

As they turn in the direction

Of the next conquest,

The next level

Of stars to be gathered.

Katrina Thornley is a nature poet. novelist, and freelance journalist that resides in Rhode Island. She has two poetry collections currently published, a novel, as well as a short story anthology. Her poetry collections "Arcadians: Lullaby in Nature" and "Arcadians: Wooden Mystics" were inspired by a local park and life in her small rural town. You can find them on Amazon now!

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