My Daughter Allegra

Flying her up in the sky,
like a kite amidst the clouds,
so peacefully,
so quietly,
so eloquently,
so sweetly.

She drifts,
she frolics,
back and forth amongst the changing breezes,
smiling,
laughing,
kicking,
floating,
free.

Ten tied strings end to end,
sending her so very far away,
beyond recognition.
What might it be but some other thing?
Not Allegra.
An apparition?
No.
Perhaps my imagination?

I pull on the string.
I feel her in my hands.
The connection exists.
My daughter,
forever.

Allegra,
a mere dot,
pinned against the sky,
suddenly disappears behind the clouds.
Yet I know she is there,
so happy and well.

Inside my being,
my lovely daughter.
The sweetest thing that ever lived.
Created somehow,
an unanswerable conclusion.
But who cares?
It’s beautiful.

It is now time to go,
nightfall descending.
I pull in the string.

The fun for the day yet has not ended,
as she tumbles out from the sky.

Now,
appearing silhouette against the moonlight,
she drifts again,
down toward the soft earth,
touching the ground so lightly with her feet.
Still laughing,
jumping,
an unquenchable energy,
that somehow persists,
in this form or another,
eternally,
I love her.