Goodbye

I stood 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 alone

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 naive

Naive, like a fawn stumbling 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 as tears dripped down her face,

glistening in the light.

I watched as she closed her eyes,

and I watched as she opened them again,

A fire ignited in her eyes;

she is brave.

I watch as she turns, marches away

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

and I know, I will never see myself again.