She is a gentle breeze on cool autumn afternoon.
She is a ray of sweet sunshine, reaching
Through a wide window frame on a
Warm spring morning.

She is sparkling starlight
She is the twinkle of fireflies
And cozy acoustic music that smoothly
Drifts yet flies, and sings a song of sweet serenity.

She is a moonbeam smiling softly in
The evening
Following the loving lullaby of a mother
Dedicated to her darling daughter.

Her freckles flash
Her brown curls bounce
Her loud laugh rings like
Tiny twinkling church bells.

The flash of a day, week, month, year
They all race by
And spot her
Smiling away the world, all free of worry
They pause and rest and sing with her
And snap a quick photo
For good measure.

She is a magnet
Magnificently trapping people in her
Simple magic of bright white light.

But…

Every cool breeze has a bitter bite

Autumn is always overtaken by the old, cold winter

Every ray of sunshine its own shadowy cloud

Sometimes the blinds of the bright window are shut tight

And spring is often late to your door

Sometimes the stars are drowned out

And the little lightning bugs are all crushed under the big black boot of the night

Guitar strings snap
And they squeal, out of tune
Songs sweetly sing no longer.

There are times when the moon
Doesn’t shine
There is a dark side, after all.

Mama can’t always be there
To sing you your lullaby.

And there is darkness in this girl
You can see it in her eyes.

It’s the kind of darkness that
Crawls
And creeps.

Darkness that stays undetected.

An evil that scoots and scurries along
The very edges of your bedroom floor.

Darkness that swims in secret
It suffocates you
It swallows you up.

It reaches down into your throat
And feels all around
Until it finds your flurrying heart
And grabs hold
Twisting, yanking
Tying your insides in gnarled knots.

Darkness that swiftly slams into your chest
Your breath is knocked from your lungs
Bouncing and squirming around on the floor.

Like dice in a game of
Shut-the-box.

This darkness shuts you down
Deep and dangerous
It grabs you, traps you, drags you down the hall.

Darkness is always darker when it’s at war with sunshine.

The darkest night is always darkest when it stalks the brightest day.