Moondrops at Sudden Denouement

I’m honored to be featured with Sudden Denouement once again!

Sudden Denouement Literary Collective

The moondrops glistening on your skin mapped out more than just stars that needed to be named. They were constellations, solar systems, and galaxies. An entire universe awaited to be explored, and though I didn’t know where to start, I knew I wanted to discover them all.

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[Sarah Doughty is the tingling wonder-voice behind Heartstring Eulogies. She’s also the author of The Silence Between Moonbeams, her poetry chapbook, and the acclaimed novels and novellas of the Earthen Witch Universe. Good news, they’re all offered for free, right here! To learn more about how awesome Sarah is, check out her website, stalk her on Goodreads, or both.]

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Legendary

“Because
she
is the light
of stars
glittering
in the darkness.”

She is what legends are made of — the sunrise on the beach, searing the horizon with oranges, reds, and yellows with the brilliance of her smile. She is the green mountainside on a warm spring day, peppered with blue bird laughter that echoes for miles. She is a silver moonlit ocean of eyes shimmering with secretive waves. She is the wind in winter, carrying away those salty tears. She is the call of the majestic eagle by day, and the hunting owl by night, ever watchful. She is the anger of rumbling thunder, the static synapses of heat lightning in summer. But, if she is gone, she remains, beating within your broken heart, and pointing the compass to lead you home. Because she is the light of stars glittering in the darkness.

© Sarah Doughty

Sense Of Being

You give us
a sense of
direction.
A sense of
home.
A place,
I long to
find.
To be.

© Sarah Doughty

Living

Sometimes
feeling pain
is what we need
to breathe.
To truly feel.
Alive.

© Sarah Doughty

Double-Sided

It’s the
naked truth
that can
either break us,
or make us whole.

© Sarah Doughty

Cloud Surfing

You can always
count on books
to keep you
grounded
while you still
soar in the clouds.

© Sarah Doughty

Mirages

The horizon
is often
so far away.
But sometimes
it’s a mirage
and much closer
than you think.

© Sarah Doughty

Magnitudes

Being a writer
isn’t all sunbeams
and glitter.
It’s hard
to bare
your soul
to the world,
in whatever
magnitude.

© Sarah Doughty

Encompassed

I remain
hopeful
that one day,
I’ll overcome
this darkness
that surrounds
me.

** Trigger warning, please continue
with caution. **

If you spent one day in my childhood shoes, you’d understand why I do the things I do. Why I try so hard to help others when — and as best — I can. But also, why I know there’s a line I have to draw in the sand. A line I can’t cross without risking my own well-being. My sanity. There’s a reason I can’t look too closely at the news, or march in rallies. Or speak out beyond my means.

Try walking one night in my childhood shoes, and you’d know what it’s like to feel the sting of a slap on the cheek, a punch to the gut. Or kick by a steel-toed boot to the hip. What it feels like to be degraded continuously with words. Debased into nothing.

And then feel — not just witness — through my childhood eyes what it’s like to be ravaged, to have your innocence stolen from you over and over again. To be taught before you can read how to please a man with your mouth, or how to move your hips the right way.

Now, imagine walking in those same shoes on a daily basis for years, and tell me I’ve not cried hard enough, or endured more than my fair share. Tell me I’m wrong for spending every moment trying to stay calm and not panic, while the rest of the world crumbles.

Just because I can’t do more than empathize, doesn’t mean I don’t give a shit. So don’t think for a second that you know what anyone else is feeling unless you can put yourself in those shoes.

© Sarah Doughty

Beating Heart

The beats
of my heart
call your name
when I’m with you.

© Sarah Doughty