I held her today, and she wept in my arms,
her years are gone, never to be seen again,
and she knows time cannot replace what is now lost,
behind the picket fence, she was picking flowers,
and running in the warm wind,
her brunette hair flew free, she looked happy,
but the bruise on her heart I still can see,
its a dark wound that has followed her,
she wants so badly to crawl inside me,
and enter a new time, but she weeps,
and her tears must be heard,
though she looks happy in the warm blowing breeze,
she still holds that sorrow,
that emptiness,
a theft stold her childhood,
and left her helpless in so much need,
on a cold dark road, at sixteen,
she wonders what she did,
and time passes,
and the clock ticks another day,
she is beautiful,
so many have told her,
her eyes melt into nature,
they are brown, as mother earth,
but her sorrows are many,
I had seen her here before,
under the willow tree,
on the bench in the garden,
where the white picket fence stood,
I know her well,
and today I hold her,
she let me touch her,
and she cried in my arms,
and I rocked her to sleep,
she needed rest,
she's been through so much,
and so I cradled her in my arms,
in the endless breeze,
her eyes closed, and she slept,
with a comfort blanket for the first time,
she belongs to me,
my reflection,
part of the infinity cloud,
that was cut short,
and made to become an adult,
at the tender age of sixteen,
she hungered, and slept behind vacant buildings,
I held her in my arms today,
she let me touch her,
she knows I understand,
the heartache, the pain,
the anguish, the agony,
I have seen her here before,
she sits on the bench under the willow,
today we cried, and we needed too,
because we grow together,
she and I are one,
on the bench, in the garden,
where the wildflowers grow!

Written by: Valerie Pearson
copyright2003ValeriePearson