A Photo Come Alive

So slight, her breathing like the light patter of a fairies' feet,

Her silver sparkles swimming in little ponds of black.

After a moment's curiosity her shy smile disappeared

Into the shadow of her mother's black sweater.

It was like she hid in her favorite nest.

How odd it was to hear the beats of her small heart, to feel her human warmth and see her small feet and hands. She looked so breakable.

The thought of touching her was a scary thought -- It was just that I had only touched her in photographs before. And, suddenly, she was transformed into a little creature I could now hold if found the courage to.

What a happy thought.

But it might take a while, I added to that.

She saw me stroking, kissing her mother -- maybe she thought I was more than a stranger? She has never known me before, and how was she to know that I even existed?  It is not a surprise that she had not given me a single thought...

I wish she’d stay a little longer, so that I knew she was a niece to me. So that at times she thought of me.

I still cannot transform those photos, into a tiny creature of emotions,

But I'm on my way -- and that's another happy thought.

It’s just so difficult to touch, someone who's always been a perfect little photo. A child I love so much, and yet, a child I that’s always been as far away as I could reach.

***

I almost wish I'd never seen a photo, of her before we even ever met.

But then again, of course I do not wish that.

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