A poem for Lauren

You stand alone

Holding up the sky

Legs braced, arms outstretched

Aching

Limbs quaking

With the strain

And pain

While around you the stars silently fall

Fluttering gently down

To lie at your feet.

And if someone offered to stand beside you

To hold up the sky with you

(However briefly)

Would you dare to let go with one hand

To reach down

Pluck a star from the ground

And return it to the sky?