The Gift Of The Red-Gold Light

For Victoria

  

Little granddaughter of mine, silently sitting

In the old, downstairs hallway

Ancient house with voices in its walls

Quiet, surreal, a living, breathing thing

Even the kitchen door cries its longing…

But the silence has led me to investigate

Where is the chatter and where are the giggles?

I slowly peek around the doorway to find

An angel squatting there on the old wooden, floorboards

Above the carved, front door there is stained glass

In reds and golds and amber, like a church

Softly the crimson shadow beams across the hallway

Through the air like magic, and you sit enchanted

Sweet little face upturned to the red and gold lights

“It’s magic!” says your expression… and you let the beams

Fall across your hands and arms, watching the play of red on gold

Enchanted little face, enchanting little girl, playing in the sacred lights

Cast by the old house, its voice and wisdom speaking another language

One that your four-year-old self can hear

And I, a grandma, struck still by the magic and the sweetness

Not daring to move, not wanting to let go of the moment

A memory captured in time, imbeded forever in my mind

Blond strands of hair about your innocent face

Rapture on your features, awestruck by the gift

That the weathered, old home can bestow

Letting the light play, dance, and then, follow you

Enchantment worth a million smiles, mine

Still on my face years later at the sweet, angelic memory of you

As that little girl in my hallway, years ago.

 With forever Love, Grandma

         2002