Across the room you catch my eye,

           bouncy curls bobbing, glinting sun,

           chubby hands clutching, waving spoon,

           secret laugh bubbling, casting joy,

                       and I want to stop time,

                       freeze-frame your innocence,

                       your toddlerhood,

                       this moment,

                       forever.

                       

So I try.

           

I pick up the camera.

           Snap.

           Reframe.

           Zoom.

           Snap again

                       and again

                                   and again.

But I cannot capture

           the way the fading sun fingers your golden curls,

                       painting a second sunset in my kitchen;

           the way the twinkle in your honey eyes sparks,

                       and I see my grandmother winking there;

           the way your coy giggle spins and curls and winds

                       across the room, around my heart.

                       

At last, suddenly wiser, I stop trying.

I put down the camera,

           and sit down across from you,

           and drink you in,

           and share your secret joke,

           and know, somehow,

           that I have finally caught the moment,

           and my heart will always remember.

This piece was originally published on the author’s website, LizzyLife.com.

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