Lily's Theatre

By Hannah Hamler

A secret smile teases
The corner of a snapdragon mouth
She winks a chocolaty eye
It sparkles like the plastic beads
Lining her neck
Of vanilla pudding

A lock of tawny, tarnished gold
Flickers across her five-year-old cheek
Like a candle
Flashing a secret code
Trying to explain the depths
Of her vivid imagination
I can’t quite decipher it

She gallops across the kitchen
It becomes a theatre
Twirling dancers flank her
The golden thread of her voice
Enchants the staring stuffed animal audience
And me

Take a bow
You’ve lit up my day
Take a bow