Shadow Child

For a fraction of a solitary second,

voiceless child blushed like flower

as the precious ruby hours

flooded her on 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

in moon suspended in charcoal skies.

Cobwebs littered her dim space

as morning mist overtook her soul.

She reached for a smile 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 the 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!”