Cara Smith
If near the Oneida marshes
The coal-black raven harkens
And calls for you to leave this place
Will you run away?
If you see the scars that lace my thighs
The hurt that lurks beneath my eyes
Curls of hair dropped on the floor
Will you turn away?
If you smell the booze of mother’s breath
The haunting stench of father’s death
A muted pain my brother wears
Will you fly away?
If I drown within the sulfur clouds
Or suffocate amongst the lake
If Satan comes to bring me home
Will you drift away?
See the waters the Seneca bore?
My body will lay near its shore.
You’ll bring lilacs and lilies
And confess you never loved
The foul river besides the graves
Or the girl who lives there now.
***
Cara Segovia is a junior studying Biology at Cornell University.