Fly

photo courtesy of Magpie Tales

Baby Girl wear her butterfly wings for Halloween

She soar 'round the house pretending to fly

Baby Girl say, "I'ma fly for real one day!"

Baby Girl's Daddy laugh real loud. Say,

"You too precious to fly, Sugar

You Daddy's little doll
Fly too high,
you break
like a fine
china
plate."

Baby Girl
 pout her lips
and scrunch up her face

Baby Girl go tell her Mama
"I'ma fly for real one day, Mama!"

Mama grin but look like she smell somethin' off
She say, "Don't be talking crazy. You too fat to fly
even if you had wings. Imagine, a butterball like you!"
Mama's words stung like steppin' ona nest a yella jackets

Baby Girl blink her eyes buncha times then but she don't cry

She be thinking'

She be schemin'

Baby Girl go 'bout her business but she always on the lookout

She be collectin' what she need for her potion:

first mornin' dewdrops

hurricane winds and

dragonfly wings

angel trumpet blooms

tears from a broken hearted girl and

stardust

silk from a spider's web

a sigh from the laziest afternoon in June

and in a glass cannin' jar, 'stead of pole beans,

the perfect note

from the love song

of a white throated sparra'

Take Baby Girl long time to collect everthing
But Baby Girl, she long on patience 'cause
You got to fix a potion jus' right and

 Baby Girl, she wanna be jus' right

Then one clear summer night
when the moon be bright
and the sky be dark
as molasses

Baby Girl
know.

Next
morning
she be gone

Her Daddy don't say
nothin' but make tight fists
with his big hands. Her Mama
cry and cry. Say, "How could she
leave like this?" Slip a paper on Baby Girl's
pillow.  It read, "You don't need wings to fly."

submitted for Magpie Tales, 70