Birds and Broken Clocks by Raaneya-Zarah Khan Dehlavi (15, New Jersey)

A crow came to visit me the other day,
his luscious and auntful feathers stuck out as he expanded his midnight wings
There was a shade cast upon me, as he softly spoke about his tumultuous travels
His unfaltering grief poured out of his beak as the clocks stuck to his legs ticked quietly The black tints on his feathers faded to gray with every little insignicant word he uttered 

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The crow didn’t understand me,
and the words that had combed the knots in my hair, the heat that dried my storm-ridden face,
and the feeling of clarity that set me free
He didn’t understand,
and he wouldn’t
The light never paid attention to the crow
He lived in regret and fear, aching for the clocks on his leg to give him one more chance And when i stepped on the steady oorboards of this house, he listened for a creak,
and looked to me as if I were time itself
But he had a few clocks too many,
and tiredly ew away before the quiet ticks descended into pure silence
I walked into the light that ooded the bathroom, and looked into the glass
My feathers had slowly plucked themselves o, my beak softened into a face of clay,
And the shade once casted was replaced by a familiar gleam
She’s broken every clock in this house
Her wings aren’t made of the aftermath of a midnight cry, but instead, a vivid painting of a true moment of laughter In a world where everyone casts shade,
she breaks through,
and lets the light in
The clocks may be broken,
But who’s to control the way we y? They’re correct sometimes, though, Once for her, and once for me
The phoenix and the clay face
My mother and I.

Raaneya-Zarah Khan Dehlavi is a 15 year-old from New Jersey. She’s the Editor-In-Chief of her school’s literary newsletter and loves to write poetry and fiction. When she’s not writing down her exuberant thoughts, you can find her studying for an upcoming anatomy & physiology test, listening to “folklore" by Taylor Swift, or sharing a good laugh with her mom.