The Trip

On my sixteenth Christmas,
My family decided, last-minute, to take a vacation.
Holidays at the airport are quite grim,
On the way in, smog sticks in your lungs like a bad cough.
The interior is plagued with people,
Who all need to be at the same place, five minutes faster than you.

Excitement didn’t set in until the plane door closed.
Only a few seconds after finally feeling relief.
Was it worth it?

Yes. The 13 hours of travel was worth a 2 minute experience.

Our plane descended on Paris,
I sat in the aisle, craning to see through a window.
Snow was falling,
The city lights illuminating millions of flakes at once.
Monuments I’d never heard of gleamed in the distance,
But the reflection of a little girl pierced through all of it.
The land of fairytales is real, and this girl was witnessing proof.
Enthralled, she mushed her nose against the window
And just like that, my view was gone.

Years later, I remember the girl’s face,
How it showed true, pure happiness.
That’s when I realized,
I saw magic for the first time.