Only the cats and blackbirds knew who she was
The hat man waved at her like he always did
wondering about her dancing in the woods
Without any exchanges of words
days could be misty and cold

She danced every morning
even if storms were raging
and rain fell from the skies
even when ancient trees told her otherwise
she danced day after day

Fairies came from the tree holes
Birds woke up to shine her days
Wolves ran with her
and left the hat man wondering in the cold
She was never alone

One day she got lost in the woods
didn’t know which path to follow home
She wandered and let her hair down
She took the scissors to cut these ropes
that almost stopped her breathing lungs

Her home was everywhere she looked
It didn’t matter anymore which way
as long as she honoured her walk
the stepping stones, the broken boughs
and the colours of the patterns she held close

The hat man smiled at her, offering her tea of roses
She was odd with her dances around the trees
Her long dress swayed with her like a river’s current
She wanted his smiles, not his tea
Only the cats and blackbirds knew who she was

He never stopped smiling and waving his hat
but the child in her eyes couldn’t be caught
Her hair was too long
Her singing too loud
Her colours too bright
and her heart too full

Image by Laura Makabresku