We Were Sparkling

I once lived in a world where our teeth were as golden & pure as sparrows in the night. We would egg the neighbor’s house & share the same lipstick because we were young or in love & wanted something to matter. One day the feathers were plucked from our mouths like pieces of bread because it was all Hansel & Gretel could think of to save themselves from the witch & her glass house—& it worked. Our teeth shone with chandelier magic in the dark & were planted in soil like baubles of light to guide the angels back home. The neighbor laughed & laughed at our foreign mouths, shallow & empty & closing in on themselves. The glass bottles hung from the tree outside her window sang songs of loss & mockery, but all I could do was stare at your wine- colored lips. We are not bad people, Laura. & the sparrows, golden & ours, will watch over our bodies from inside their eggs. & the eggs will one day hatch & reveal light & truth in a more forgiving world, & shine through our honest lips. Yes, Laura, they will shine on through