No School

All the schools were closed

except one

I was woken

beautifully

by her singing

A little bird

in her room

 

This day, a gift

that we unwrapped together

our frenzied running to the car

to escape the lava

we made it, just

our car-ride a symphony

of awful singing

 

The grocery shop was open

for us alone

in earnest we looked

for the perfect orange

the lemoniest lemon

and eventually

we found them

 

Her laughing echoed

in the cavernous toy shop

With a little of her savings

she bought a notebook

 

to keep

her secret thoughts

 

Entering the cinema foyer

she tugged at my sleeve

I looked down

“What’s wrong?”

a teary smile

“Happy tears.”

 

We sat in darkness

alone

not alone

the rustle of papers

the slurp of drinks

the light from her eyes

 

The journey home

my favourite part

She tells me that this

this day of small things

has been the best day of her life

I remind her of her birthdays

all six of them

I remind her of Christmas magic

of Easter eggs

of Pancake Tuesdays

her saucer sized eyes as our plane left the runway

 

She is still, she ponders

seconds tick by

she agrees

there have been better days

but they were not today