Photographs and Reflections

Bright eyed 

Blue checkered dress 

Leaning in curiously 

To another girl 

Who was holding dried bread

Coiling her chubby arms 

Launching said bread 

Into a pond 

Adorned with lily pads. 

The girl in blue knew a world of pastels 

Flowers and dolls 

Her life 

Filled with endless summer days 

And monsoon sprays 

Left for another place 

Too soon

This girl,

Now too old to tame

Too young to leave

Likes to congregate with her friends

Learning a foreign language 

Her eyes shine a slightly tired light

In this photo because she is thinking

About her friends who she’d rather be with

Than her formally dressed folks in the back 

The minute the camera flashes

Before they can refuse

She whisks away 

Too quickly 

In this instant 

She is standing in a glossy jar 

Illuminated by neon lights 

A Ferris wheel, perhaps 

With her folks again, 

They snuggle close

Their faces showing age

She is old enough to fly 

But young enough to veer off course

She wants to stay

In this fuzzy space

Safe from the monsters at school 

But time won’t allow 

It slips through her fingers

Like Bali sand 

Too fast 

This girl 

Entering her prime 

Ponders on whether she rushed too much

Cherished too little 

Deserves the life she was given 

She rests her eyes

The camera glistens once again