Wild Dark Shore

by Charlotte McConaghy

Even before she learned that there is a different kind of fear from the one you feel when you hold your breath.

mainland. But she isn’t frightened of the dead. It is only the living who have the power to harm.

But the dandelion—this single flower that has given nourishment to countless other living creatures—is considered a weed.

Fen feels too much, always bursting out of her body.

Is this how you feel after being swept in on a current? Will you change shape and put down roots? Or carry on in search of somewhere better?

Would the capacity of that love find its limit? Or would it soar?

But here is the nature of life. That we must love things with our whole selves, knowing they will die.

“Maybe we will drown or burn or starve one day, but until then we get to choose if we’ll add to that destruction or if we will care for each other.”

Maybe that’s what being a parent is. Expanding to be more. Asking of yourself more, for them.

It is a good thing his father has taught him to be strong.