Goodbye

I watched helplessly

As I watched her float away

I watched her, with her pretty purple dress

billowing in the wind,

ruffles all around

A halo shadowing over her head

She stands in a meadow

full of lavenders, back turned to me

She slowly spins

And holds out her hand,

beckoning me to come

I can almost feel her small fingers

The soft flesh that comes with a young child

If I held her hand,

mine would dwarf hers, catching her

Never letting her go

But I can’t

This girl, pure, pure as the water

that comes from a glacier

She has never seen herself with no one

as she braves a never-ending storm

Has never heard

Someone call her a name that is not her own

But instead the name of the other

Asian girl across the room

She is so naive

Naive, like a fawn walking into a wolf’s jaws

She has never been deceived

Has never been silenced,

She is so innocent

As I watch

As her eyes fill up with hurt, and she realizes I am not coming with her

And her pure, naive, innocent soul

Can’t fathom that I am letting her go to protect her

I watched

I watched as tears dripped down her face

glistening in the light

I watched as she closed her eyes, I watched as she opened them again

And a fire ignited in her eyes; she is brave

She will not give up

She is a baby turtle, braving the sea

And all creatures lurking beneath the pretty, turquoise waters

I watch

I watch as she turns, marches away

I watch as she becomes a speck in the distance, and then she disappears

And I know, I will never see myself again.