You were adorable. It is amazing to see how such a simple thing as a spraying water fountain can amuse and bring happiness to someone. You were having so much fun trying to grab the water as it shot up. You seemed to have so much fun even when you saw that the water simply slipped away because you knew in a few seconds more chances to catch it would arise time and time again. It was refreshing to see you having fun even though you never really could succeed.
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
Wire teeth
Frame a smile
Pulling up corners
Like a curtain
Let the show begin
Feather plumed lips
Fall into a pale face
With cheekbones of glass
Each jutting out
Ragged yet beautiful
Stained glass eyes
Gleam in refracted shards
Color shines through
Empty yet bewitching
A gate into a hollow soul
Spider web hair
Brushes her face
In the breeze
Shifting and changing eternally
Soft as silk
And fine as diamonds
Here you are
The portrait girl
They love you for
Your eyes
The love you for
Your smile
They love you for
All the wrong reasons
Until you die inside
“I am done being scared”
She said
Picking herself up defiantly
“I won’t be pushed around anymore
I’m gonna be the toughest girl around”
She balls her tiny fists
And looks me in the eye
I just feel old
Looking the avatar of defiance
Right in the eye
I sigh sadly
At the visage of a girl
Going done a difficult path
“You don’t have to be tough
You just have to be smarter
Than them to win”
I say sitting in a chair
I feel so tired
“No”
She says flexing
And unlacing her fists
That should never know
The feeling of anger or hate
Her faces tightens
As she shakes her head vehemently
“I will show them
I am not just some stupid girl”
She is angry now
But so am I
“Well maybe you are just some stupid girl
What then
What if you can’t change”
I yell at her
“What if you are stuck forever
Just being that dumb girl
With the angry fists
What then
When all they see is a girl with
Hate coiled in her eyes and
A fist for a heart”
She looks at me
With shattered eyes
And the beginning of tears
“I’m sorry”
I say desperately
As I reach for her
To cradle her sadness away
“I didn’t mean-”
She turns and runs away
Leaving me with open arms
As I watch her run
But for a moment
She stops
Turns back to me
With a pinched face
And defiant eyes
“You’re wrong”
She whispers
Those two tiny words
Ring in my ears
Ricochet through my brain
And she is gone
I sit back
Rub my weary eyes
And sigh
“I hope you’re right”