Aftermath - Mary Catherine Graff

The warming sun gently comforts me.
Mother nature always smiles peacefully,
watching over me day and night, “be free.”

But inescapable gloom hits forcefully.
Wandering endlessly, blindly searching,
what will happen to me? Uncertainty.

Eerie thoughts about you and me lurching,
I think about you inadvertently,
Never forgetting what you did to me.

Haunting silence craving elusive hope.
Enduring the world I silently plea
for the sunshine to once again be—nope. 

Unbroken, do you remember what was?
What used to be, what was me, when I was. 
Mary Catherine is a senior at Regina High School.

The editors appreciated this piece's striking sense of tone and flow. Mary Catherine is a returning author for Hot Dish Magazine, and is also the author of "Do Not Hold me Closer, Let me Go" in this issue.

*Picture provided by author