Shadow Child

For a fraction

of a solitary second,

voiceless child

blushed like flowers

as the precious ruby hours

flooded her

dusky footprints.

On fragile wings,

she attempted

to soar above

the shadowy night

in her solemn cape

of darkness,

lost among

the throngs in silence,

seeking shade

in shadows of others,

a fate that

threatened

to engulf her.

Alienated clouds

and dusky skies

fed her hunger

to whisper aloud

to moon, suspended

in charcoal skies.

Cobwebs littered

her dim space

as morning mist

overtook her soul.

She reached for smiles

just out of sight,

yearning

for awakening blossoms.

No one saw

her bleeding in anguish,

crying for a reprieve

from obscurity

as she attempted

to whisk doubts

into sheltering winds

of hope.

She felt

overcast shade lift

like an eclipse

beckoning her

with warm fingers

of light.

She grasped

her new beginning

in a bouquet

of enchantment

for the first time

seeing the truth,

pushing away

dejected shoulders.

The shadow child

grasped the stars,

healed the clotting

loss of innocence,

listening to

her voice chorus

with hundreds

of other children,

awakening to

the knowledge that

her shadowed existence

is the child

she once was

but is no more,

as she opens lips

to speak,

“Please play with me!”