By Like mosquito bites,
Regrets nip at you when
You least expect it,
Leave you red and searing.
Sometimes, they’re small
And go away after a few days,
Like the time you smiled too wide
And your braces somehow got
Caught in your friend’s sweater.
Sometimes, they’re big
And swell so much that
You want to mark an X over them
With your nail.
Like the time when you were five
And you ignored your parents,
Every time they tried to talk to you
In their home language.
Their words lost in the wind
With your scrunchie ponytail
As your back faced them.
Regardless,
These bites will always be
An itch you try not to think about,
The itch you try not to think about.
But it will always linger in the back of your head,
No matter how many days you wait
Or Xs you dig into them.
It’s okay to scratch at them once in a while
But don’t pick at them to the point
Where they start to bleed.
Otherwise, you can never heal.
Otherwise, the swelling will never go down.