Vulnerability

Vulnerability

She wears it like a mask,
Her vulnerability,
Asking to be used,
Emotions sewn to her sleeve
Like Brownie patches,
Listless eyes
Searching the room for friendliness.
She is a fish out of water
Amongst the greasy tables;
She is too clean,
Too sweet,
Thirteen.

She's waiting for something -
Friends? Parents? Salvation?
Picking at her chips
As if she'd rather eat something green.
Thin as a rake,
Her wrists snappable,
Easy, like her heart, to break.
She doesn't look robust enough
To stand up straight
In the wind that blows grey streets today.

And still she waits
After she has emptied her plate,
After she has drained her paper cup,
For what I'll never know -
My friends arrive for me
And I go.