look on my works, ye mighty, and despair

Once upon a time there was a girl. She believed in magic. And every day she prayed to God to make her a little magical. Once upon a time there was a girl. She believed in love. She prayed for that too. And she did some bad things, made some bad decisions and she sinned. And she wanted. She wanted so very much. Sometimes she wanted so much it was like she was an aching little want and nothing else. And she did not understand the rules that God made in His good book but she tried to follow, and she was very unhappy. And she tried so hard but she was never good enough. And she wanted to be a good person but something always happened. So she gave up in a lot of places, and she wanted to stay that way. But then life taught her some things. She learned that there was joy in unexpected places, that hopes and dreams, even when false or impossible, should never be abandoned because they made so much of what she was, and what she wanted to be, and what she could be. And that she could be a lot of things — if she had faith and if she believed. Most of all in her own self. And she learned that it was okay to be herself. That herself was good, and she mattered — to a few people, but she did matter — and she was loved and wanted by them. Once upon a time there was a girl, and she learned that she could be a lot of things. Most important of all she learned that she could be happy.