Stella Silvae

The second question, 
if they stick around to ask it, 
will be, 

“is it painful?”

And part of you will laugh, because 
of course it fucking is.

But they’re so 
earnest
that being truthful suddenly feels
like telling a child 
their mother left them.

So you’ll smile, shrug, and
let their somehow-adult self
keep believing that
a good world 
is a world where
pain is fleeting.

And that this world, 
their world,  

is still good.