Little Girl Lost: Poetry

As Christmas Day comes 'round again, my thoughts return to you;
to days when life was simple and our views were not askew.
Our hopes were so alive back then and -- damn it -- you were, too.

As kids, we knew security; saw promise in our world.
We dreamed in vivid colour of our futures yet unfurled:
imaginations oysters; possibilities were pearls.

I wish I could go back to when our innocence was whole.
I'd nurture and protect those things that fortified your soul,
and chase away the evils that would take such mortal toll.

I hope you know how much I grieve -- wherever you may be --
for all those childhood fantasies that now will never be.
Your death has also cruelly killed that little girl in me.

In memory of Jill
1967-1997