A FADING SPIRIT: Memories of a little girl

I have beside me 

On this upward path,

The fading spirit

Of the little girl

I once used to be;

When the road is rugged

And a thousand monsters

Loom like mountains

Over this untrodden way,

I gaze into that little girl’s eyes

And fight my way through.

For her eyes are ashamed

Full of sorrowful reproach;

And her voice whispers,

“When heartache and misery

 Rose like a flood

 And the demons of fear

 Threatened to suffocate,

 I stood my ground

 And defied the odds,

 Dreamt of triumph

 In the engulfing dusk,

 Oh, is this what I have become?”

She is pathetic, yet poignant

In her resolute belief,

She trusted in the future,

In me?

She was only a child,

But she was proud;

Touchingly vulnerable

Yet hardy and tough;

She kept her little soul

Strong and true

When pain knifed its way through,

And believed in the victory of tomorrow

When defeats assailed her way;

Oh but tomorrow’s already here

And the horizon’s still unclear.

She haunts me at night,

Shadows me at day,

And when I’m tempted to sink

Under the burdens of care,

I see her poor, unbroken faith,

And my soul is strengthened,

My heart is brave.