For Lucy (aged 5)
For that moment
my heart froze
my breath stopped
and in that merest sliver of time,
a drop in the ocean of pleasure
I find in your company,
the sunshine fell under shadow,
clouded by a vision of a world without you.
At five
we all believe that nothing can touch us
as we run headlong at the world
wanting to stretch ourselves in every direction,
wanting to soak up everything like a giant sponge,
wanting to run up rainbows,
wanting to dance on clouds,
wanting to sing mountains into being,
wanting to cross rivers on our laughter
and taste and smell and touch our dreams.
I see you,
little golden girl,
running so hard along these seaside pavements
until you wish you could fly
but for one terrifying moment
as you stood in the middle of that road
I saw you flying away forever,
taking away our sunshine.
I must apologise for the lateness of my posting this week, but the headlong rush to Christmas is, perhaps, a madness I could do without.
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