The road wandered past a gully…
A giant sand pit...
Once a hive of leering mechanical beasts...
Now a hollow...yawning in the earth...
Waiting for the healing hands of Nature to tend savage wounds...

The road wandered past a gully..
And by the road, near the gully, was a barefoot child...
In faded floral summer dress...
Long red hair wildly tossing in the chill autumn winds.......

I slowed my car's haste to get home…I wished...I wished.......just to be......

Arms splayed wide...
Her face graced with a smile…
The barefoot child danced...
Capturing the heady rollercoaster of fickle breezes...

I could not hear her laughter...
But my soul glowed with her smile...
You see...
I was too afraid to open the car windows to this time of year...
Too many cold memories locked in the ice of today...
I wanted to remember the warmth of old summers...

The child danced on...
Unaware I yearned to share her freedom...
Till...
A fleeting burst of colour crossing my dream...
A mother crying fearful tears...
Raced to the child...
Swept her in her arms...

I drove slowly home...
But in the mirror...
The rear vision mirror...
I saw a child's tiny face...
Framed in tendrils of wild red hair...
Resting on her mother's shoulder...

Wondering why...