Discovers

Her

Own

Magic

She leaves the nursery and everybody in it

With a kiss for Nanny the only one who sees her

A love-filled hug for her brothers whom she’ll always visit with stories of her harrowing adventures in the real world

A long embrace for her mother, whose own magic never stood a chance

Though it’s never never too late

One last gaze at her father, the saddest lost boy in the room

And consequently the most dangerous

She’ll remember Peter as the one who had the honor of witnessing the rebirth of her magic

Who saw her splendor

Who fell in love with her

{As much as a narcissist can}

But he and Tink can go fuck themselves have already found

Some new pretty thing to toy with in the Bermuda Triangle of their depravity

She will never forget how many times they risked her

Safety and even deliberately tried to harm her

Their callousness born of their obsession with their bottomless egos and insidious insecurity

Wendy stands on the threshold of that fateful window with a serene smile upon her lips

Grateful for all of it

A heart on fire with love and longing

A soul at peace

She says goodbye to all she’s known

And steps off that ledge into the soft light of dawn

She soars

With the serenity and power of a woman

Who knows who she is

In full view of the passersby below who gawk

And shake their heads in disbelief

At the woman flying solo

She catches the twinkling eye of a little girl below then

Wendy winks and blows her a kiss

Freedom ever after

Jaclyn Edds Konczal | February 2022