I see heroes

I see heroes.

I see the girl who shoots fire,
her hands are burned a charcoal black
and everything she touches comes away smudged,
the pain in her eyes as the flames rip out of her hands
is big and burning but no one ever sees it.
because heroes are invincible.

I see the boy who controls water,
he can tell you best what it feels like to drown,
to feel the water clog up every part of you
before it all comes rushing out,
to feel like a towel
all wrung out, but her will never speak.
because heroes are invincible.

I see the girl who shoots lightning,
she is thrumming with energy all through her veins,
touch her and all the hair stands on end,
she can tell you what the
inside of an supernova feels like,
but she’ll keep it to herself,
because heroes are invincible.

I see the boy with the robot parts,
he can always hear the whirring inside his ears,
and sometimes he can feel the ghosts of his limbs
right where they’re supposed to be,
but they are never there,
phantoms of a time long gone,
but he’ll never say the ghosts still haunt him
because heroes are invincible.

I see the child who can reknit her wounds,
great gaping slashes returned to nothing in the space of a second,
but there are scars there, big and small,
turning her skin into a patchwork of skin
but she’ll never show you
because heroes are invincible.

I see the teenager who controls weather,
make a snow day so as to get more sleep,
they haven’t slept in a week and the dark circles
under their eyes are huge,
they feel like they are going to collapse,
but they cover up the bags with makeup
because heroes are invincible.

I see the woman who receives visions of the future
be tortured by visions all day,
seeing the people they love
dying thousands of horrible deaths,
body contorting because of all the possibilities that she sees,
second after second, hour after hour,
but she will never show it,
because heroes are invincible.

I see the man who can grow plants at the snap of a finger
feel the poison seeping into his veins as her grows plants
on city asphalt, he feels the roots slowly growing into his body,
his skin slowly turning into bark,
he feels more wooden with every passing day,
he feels the pain as he breathes in,
he can sense the chemicals in the air,
but he will never tell
because heroes are invincible.

Those tortured souls
who protect us from whatever monsters
lurk above
or below.

We all have a little hero inside us somewhere,
the one that tells us to keep walking with our heads held high,
even though we want to break down inside, because
heroes are invincible.

But let me tell you a secret.

Heroes hurt,

Heroes bleed,

Heroes break,

Heroes burn,

Heroes cry,

Heroes

are not

Invincible.