I can remember nights as a child, when the skies were dark and vast,
we had no streetlights, where we lived, and I could see the stars.
They twinkled right above my head, they were bright, like Christmas lights
They lit up the velvet blackness, with their sparkling dash of white.
The grownups told me, make a wish, they did not realise,
I was more grown up than they were, as I gazed into the skies.
I did not wish for the latest toys, or parties with my friends
I wished to leave a legacy, something that never ends.
I was already paving the way to be, a star in my own right
Blazing a path, across the world, and spreading my own light.
I wished to leave something behind, even as I faded back to dust
I wished for my words to be saved in print, for others to read and trust.
I wished for happiness and health, the things we cannot buy.
I wished to live as long as possible, so much to do before I die.
Oh, don’t get me wrong, I also wished for boys to notice me
So we could ride into the sunset, and live forever happily.
I was not so different, in that way, I just got swept along
By the fairytales I had heard and read, but now I see they’re wrong.
So saccharine sweet and sickly, and not something to aspire to be.
I realised I could be alone, and still be perfectly happy.
Meanwhile, up there, a star had heard, my wishes to write books
and set me on the correct path, if only I would look.
A path where I could make a difference, and hold others’ broken dreams,
And help when trauma consumed them and ripped them at the seams.
A path where I could help people to realise they were stars,
if they could only see it, if they could just look past their scars.
When they came to me, consumed by darkness, feeling no-one cared,
A star was within them, even as they sat, with their tears and despair.
Their star had shown them the way to me, an internal compass to guide
It shone, a constant presence, even in the dark, when alone they cried.
Even where confusion reigned for a while and all felt lost,
It shone, even as they feared opening up to me, what lines they’d have to cross.
It shone, even while they deliberated, over calling to book in
And it shines again, as they sit with me, I see it lighting from within.
I see it’s light, in the small smile that flickers on their face,
In the glimmer of hope within their eyes, in the way they slow their pace.
I see it, in the change in posture as they stand more confident,
More sure of their place within the world, more full of new intent.
As it reaches it’s full burning blaze once more, and they leave me, I can see,
All around them, their own galaxy of stars, burning, so brightly.
Lighting the way for them to go and set the world on fire.
Sending them forward with purpose and hope, their self-awareness higher.
They didn’t need to wish upon a star, none of us did, we were wrong.
Because the stars that guide us, lived within us, all along.
Copyright, Emma Oldershaw, 2024
