The Words I Hold

​Granny used to say the forest remembers you. Every step you took. Everything you did.

 

I miss her. The warmth of her hands around mine when she had something to say that words couldn’t carry. The green eyes that never looked at me with anything but love.

 

Some mornings, I hear her voice close to me. I almost turn around to look.

 

I didn't choose the wolf. I didn't choose the hunger. And I did what Granny would've told me to do. I got up. I kept going.  It's the only thing I know how to do.

 

Granny loved me. James believed in me. Oh Lord, I would give anything to see them again. I am still their Frida. I want them to know that, wherever they are. The wolf can't take that.

 

Granny had words she kept for the dark. Child of the forest, do not lose your way. The world is darker than you know, but you are stronger than you believe.

 

I hold onto those words. They give me hope when I have none, strength when I have less.