by Zoë M. Lee

when we see burning red in the sunrise,
crimson petals on spiky flowers,
scarlet coral in the depths of the seas,
we don’t try to make them change their colour.
we don’t say ‘be a softer pink’,
we don’t secretly whisper ‘be a calm yellow’,
we don’t wish they were a conventional blue.
no,
we don’t try to drown out their fire
or question their thorns,
or clean up their bloody wounds.
we let them exist just as they are,
and not once do we think
they are cruel
for being different.

Zoë M. Lee is a teenage author from Canada who loves writing fiction and poetry, reading about distant worlds, and political philosophy. She is Autistic and loves writing about Neurodiversity.