Kensie

Tiny    
and in broad daylight    
your fledgling spirit appears    
   
Pale wraith    
too sickly to rattle a window    
or raise a murmur to beg     
your breathless envy    
can only press    
an unformed face    
a fraction closer to mine    
   
Beyond the lull of the Gardens    
footsteps cloud a clear blue sky    
duty trudges through shadow    
to rest by the Round Pond    
I am mindful of the water's edge    
as a little girl laughs    
throwing bread to a black swan    
   
We plant a feather  
in the grass with love    
and I point to the Elfin Oak    
where we might have stood    
before life was cheap    
clapping hands    
to marvel at magic    
such impossible dreams    
carved out of wood    
   
I may not visit here again    
to my shame    
you were always    
remembered without a name    
and some hurts never heal    
so I mumble goodbyes    
apologize that your mother    
couldn't come to play--    
pausing to wonder    
if she ever cries like me   
for the child who life    
denied