Hidden Beauty

|~Taylor Freeman~|

Losing someone is extremely difficult.

But when they are close to someone so young that’s the worst.

Our father was killed in war;

stripped from us and put right in the line of fire.

My sister took it the hardest,

She and dad, they were the closest.

And now-- I’m all she has.

 

It’s always harder for me to act strong when I feel so broke

but for her, I will do everything I can to keep that smile

right there, on her face.

 

We were walking to her favorite sushi restaurant.

Dad normally took her, but today

I wanted to make her smile.

I could see her glance over and the grip tightened on my hand

She stopped;

Her little knees gave out and she fell crying.

 

“Baby, baby...” I coaxed.

Seeing her cry like that hurts so bad,

her cracked voice just as heartbreaking if not worse.

“I miss them moma, I miss them.” She cried, looking up at me,

glossy brown eyes watching my blue ones which threatened

with tears, I held her close so she couldn’t see me cry.

 

“Take a look at this,” I say, looking down at her now.

“They aren’t really gone.”

Pointing to the graveyard and inhaling deeply, I continue:

“Don’t look at it as they are gone, they are here, everywhere.

In the grass and the wind; Look at all of these beautiful flowers and the clouds.”

 

The wheels were turning in her head.

Her brown hues glistened across the landscape.

Her eyes grazed the yellow spots that speckle the green grass;

over  the flowering buds on the trees, and the vines that hugged their trunks.

 

Wiggling her toes in the soft moss under her sparkly sandals,

and she turned to the invisible chirping from the branches and sky above;

to the mini mountains that the bugs crawl over and into as

the sun comes out and hugs her in his warmth.

 

When she looked back at the cemetery, I hugged her and wiped her tears away.

“You see? They’re with us everywhere.

Making our world more gorgeous than the stars

that they use to tuck us in at night.

You just have to look a little harder than others.”

 

Even with this story, everything does seem more stunning,

if one would just take a second and admire it.

 

And when she smiles, I kiss her forehead saying:

“Now, we can go get some sushi

and sit out here in the world so dad and mom,

so they can sit with us and know their little girls

are happy and safe in the world they made more alluring,

Because they know that the more radiant the world is,

the more chirpy you will be.”

 

She giggled and I smiled.

We continued our journey to the sushi shop

Talking about how amazing and breathtaking our world is,

if everyone would take a minute from their rushed schedule and

realize how blessed we are for our angelic creation.