Sandy

 

Sandy

 

If I could just see my baby girl 

trotting across the lawn,

tennis ball in her mouth,

brass tags jingling--

Pretty little white paws,

sad eyes so happy,

so glad to see me...

If I could just say to her again,

"You're the best baby

in the whole wide world--

and everybody knows it.

Everybody knows that

you're the sweetest little baby

in the whole wide world..."

If I could just smell her

(after a bath, of course,)

touch her little black toenails,

feel her soft warm ears--

fluff up her bed,

kiss her furry cheek,

and give her a cookie...

If I could just fly away

to wherever she is and 

stop feeling this way,

or at least tell her

I'm feeling this way--

She would put her paw on me,

and try to lick me.

Even though I know lots of

people who have it way worse, 

way way harder than this--

I'm still going to cry, because

she was the sweetest,

cutest, best baby 

in the whole wide world.

Linda

 

 

Whirling, whirling about in a multicolored paisley abyss,

Once again I have lost my bearings.  I need more time.

It is the seventies.  I am twelve.

Her sunlit face, long blonde hair sparkling in her happiness.

That must have been a good day, the day he took that picture.

Quite photogenic.  I didn't appreciate her beauty until now.

I just woke up.  It is 2023.

Why didn't I...?  But I found the letters.  I did try.  

It wasn't easy for either one of us. 

We both loved my dad.  We had that in common.

What invisible concrete block wall kept our hearts apart?

We weren't close.  I regret that very much, however,

Nothing can change that, not even the weird fantastic hopes and dreams

That never emerged from some unknown depths within me until now.