With a shake 
	of her head 
     "it hurts, it hurts"
        she whimpered
but her words turned
      to laughter 
         as the bruises
became butterflies,
     Lifting their slender
            wings
      from tender flesh
  and taking flight.

"Look at all the pretty 
      colors..."
  flowing blues and 
         greens,
 swirling into the midnight
             air.

Her eyes followed
    the fragile fantasies-
  little flames that scraped
   the moon
and fell like dead
      petals back into her 
  soul, where
for one second,
    she was safe from the
 outside world,
      forgotten and pure.