At the end
You didn’t know my name
Was I a ghost haunting your fragmented memories?
I wasn’t very present in your life
So I wondered why your eyes lit up
When you spotted me?
Your mouth splitting into a wide grin
At the sight of my face
Even after most traces of me
Disappeared from your mind
Did you remember a dark-haired girl
To whom you read stories a long time ago?
At the end
You didn’t speak
And yet
In your touch, I felt
that you wanted me near, close
Your eyes soft, your hand gentle on my arm
When you were still healthy, you were never this expressive
Even though you could have been
You never looked this happy to see me
At the end
I think you remembered…
Or it could just be a story I tell myself
Natalie Weis is a tenth grade student at Edmund Burke School in Washington, DC. She has been published by the Parkmont Poetry Festival and Live Poets Society of New Jersey, attended the Creative Writing Program at the Interlochen Arts Camp, and participated in The Kenyon Review’s Winter Workshop. Natalie equally enjoys writing poetry, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. Besides writing, she loves the theater and visual arts and performs in as many school plays and musicals as possible.