The Girl By The Water

Across the water I keep

The young memory of me

Naïve and wonton

Splashing on the shore

Allowing the spray to coat her clothes

She glances at me

But doesn’t know it’s her

Foolishly she falls in the sand laughing

I can’t help but smile too

Sand and water rest by her feet

It starts to rain

She pulls her head back

And opens her arms

To receive each droplet

Any she can grasp

Someone yell’s at her

“You’ll catch a cold”

She replies

“Not till tomorrow”

Falling onto her back

Tongue sticking out to the sky

She lays there drinking every drop of innocence

I walk away

Before she figures out

She was the shadow that came to visit

On that June day

With the news

Her innocence was gone

Elizabeth Almeida ©2020