I took this photo in Seattle of this little girl and it reminded me of a poem I wrote once, here it is.
There is a little girl
Sitting on the sidewalk
She cries with little
Hiccups of breath
As silver drops
Run rivers down her face
Her hair bobs with her bouncing breaths
She squeezes her eyes hut
Creasing a face
So soft and young
Making cardboard out of dough
Holding her knee in her hands
I bend as I near her
And crouch down next to her
She hiccups and sniffles
As she tilts her head my way
Her blue eyes swampy
And clouded as a stormy day
Her dress lies in tatters
A wand broken at her side
A basket of belongings
Strewn around her
As if blown into a warfield
I offer a smile
As I block the sun from her eyes
It is the least I could do
Dragging an arm across her face
She looks at me quizzically
“What’s wrong?” I ask
As I survey this battlefield
She looks from me to her dress
As she sniffles again
A Cinderella dress
Ready for the grand ball
I notice her tiara
Rattled in the snarls of her hair
“I fell and ripped my dress”
She whispers in a way only children can
Audible and loud
Yet you have to lean in to hear
“That’s alright” I reply
“Everyone falls down sometimes”
She shakes her head fiercely
As if trying to rid herself of a bad dream
“All I wanted to do”
She cried sobbing all anew now
“Was be a princess
But look at what I have done”
She points to her wand
Broken and destroyed
Looks at her dress
Ruined and dirty
“How can I be a princess now?”
“You don’t need a wand,” I say
As I pick up the pieces
“Or a dress” I put the pieces in her lap
Full of torn and ruffled clothes
“To be a princess all you need
Is a good heart and a quick mind”
Yet again I offer a smile
She tilts her head at me no longer crying
Examining me and my words
As they lay at her feet
I watch as she picks them up
Studies them and their worth
And offers me a smile back in return
Small but honest and true
“Remember that,” I say
“And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise”
I help her to her feet
She sniffles one last time
As she picks up the debris
Of a life she no longer needs
I nod and she nods
I walk past her smiling
I turn back once
And the little princess waves
I wave back
Wishing my little princess in me
Hadn’t left me so long ago
