'i'm not broken' you say as you seep out the cracks

'i'm whole' you say as you hold yourself together because if you don't, surely you'll shatter

'i'm just fine' you whisper when no one asks and you watch your steps leave a trail of fragments to follow

'i'll recover' you plead with your own destruction when glue doesn't mend it

'it's temporary' you lie as cracks web under your eyes and splinter your lips

'i'm fixing it' you wake up with more pieces crumbling away and you try to remember which one goes where

'can i be fixed?' your grasping at the shards that fall and fracture whenever you speak

oh you broken child, wait. you have been smashed too many times, but you are not done. you'll be repurposed into art, even though you'll always have those scars. you are just bits of what you used to be, but now have the power of rebuilding yourself despite it.