The little girl and her red dress

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Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

0 posted 2011-04-24 01:10 PM

The little girl’s red dress

She sat on her Mother’s lap
on the train towards home.
She loved the wagon’s speed
and its happy rattling sounds.
She would soon be home!
After spending two weeks
in a foreign family, because
Grandmother was ill
and Mother had to work.

She pressed her little body
onto her Mother’s chest
and put her arms around her neck.
Mother could hardly breathe
and fought the rising tears.
She felt her daughter’s clinging
as if she dreamed to slip back
into her womb’s security.
Why was her immense love
not enough to prevent
her children from suffering?

The little girl watched
the landscape rushing by.
Her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Mommy they bought me
a very lovely new dress.
I wore it to Sunday Mass.”
She smiled and added
“It’s red with tiny
white flowers all over,
you will see!”
So they had been kind after all,
maybe she worried too much.

Once at home the little girl
skipped around in sheer joy,
love saturated all the rooms
and all the familiar things
seemed to join her happy dance.
“Mommy can I wear
my new red dress today?”.
“Of course, you can!”

But no red dress was found
among the few things in the suitcase.
Disappointment widened
the little girl’s eyes.
“They have forgotten ... ”

“Don’t worry, Schätzchen,
Mommy will buy you a new one ...”.
She would have to economize.
“When I am better I will sew
one myself”, said Grandmother.
It was going to be the most
lovely red dress ever,
the thought alone made her
feel better.

Love was tangible and it was
all the little girl really needed
to find her smile again.

*

[This message has been edited by Margherita (04-25-2011 02:43 AM).]

JerryPat2
Member Laureate

since 2011-02-06

Posts 16975
South Louisiana

1 posted 2011-04-24 02:59 PM

No, it doesn't take much to put a smile on a little girls mouth, just the promise of a little red dress.

Touching.

~ A lion will not cheat on his wife, but a Tiger Wood. ~

JamesMichael
Member Empyrean

since 1999-11-16

Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA

2 posted 2011-04-25 12:29 PM

A pleasure to read...James

jwesley
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-04-30

Posts 7563
Spring, Texas

3 posted 2011-04-25 12:51 PM

It's always touched me with how little it takes to make a child smile. And you know what,
it's really not much of a stretch to get a smile from and adult either...a total stranger in passing - it amazing how just a slight upturn at the corners of you lips will elicit a full blown grin ffrom someone you've never seen before --- in passing.

At least that how is seems to work for me. And your piece reminded me of that.

Thanks,

j.

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

4 posted 2011-04-25 03:02 AM

Thank you, dear Jerry, for reading the somewhat long piece and for letting it touch you. Every now and then I remembered this event which happened in my early childhood and yesterday I felt like writing it down. As you can imagine it wasn't easy for my Mother (a widow with two little children) to find solutions during the holidays when she couldn't send us to Kindergarten or school.

Dear James, thank you so much kind Poet for taking the time and for telling me you enjoyed it.

Thank you so much, dear Jimmy, for your kind comment and your ponderings around the smile. Indeed the tears of children can be dried quickly, by wrapping them into the warm cape of love.

It isn't so much about the missing red dress, but about the lack of love clearly manifested by buying it for her but by denying her the pleasure of keeping it.

Love,
Margherita

OwlSA
Member Rara Avis

since 2005-11-07

Posts 9347
Durban, South Africa

5 posted 2011-04-25 03:19 AM

Margherita, this had me in tears of pain for the neglectful or purposeful cruelty of the people who looked after you, and tears of happiness and gratitude for the wonderful mother you had and the loving bond between you and her. I didn't know it was about you when I read the poem, but, of course, I saw it in the comments.

Owl

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

6 posted 2011-04-25 03:29 AM

Thank you, dear Owl, for letting this touch you and for your very loving comment. Yes, I had a wonderful Mother who was both Father and Mother to me, so to say.

Those people were cold at heart, I remember! Of course it has to be appreciated that they - being childless - agreed to take in a child during the school holidays, but I remember - oh so well - that they were cold hearted (they also received a financial contribution for this service partly from the organization "Pro Juventute" and partly from the parents).

Love,
Margherita

2islander2
Member Ascendant

since 2008-03-12

Posts 6825
by the sea

7 posted 2011-04-25 04:09 AM

thanks margherita for the very delicate painting of a precious moment and souvenir, this is touching and full of heart and I love seeing children's eyes shining, I first thought it was a personnal story but it works beautifully for any little girl who would like a red dress...Thanks for the superb poem.

yann

Dark Stranger
Member Patricius

since 2001-03-19

Posts 13631
West Coast

8 posted 2011-04-25 11:13 AM

ms mar...I can see that little girl in your smile...enjoyed your pen lady

Honeybunch
Member Rara Avis

since 2001-12-29

Posts 7115
South Africa

9 posted 2011-04-25 12:03 PM

Oh, dear Margherita, it is a painful memory that you have carried around with you so I'm glad you've written it out. Perhaps your love for your mother and grandmother and bond with them both was heightened because of it so, in fact, it could be viewed as having been a good experience. We don't know all of that stuff as a child, of course, but you grew up to be a beautiful human being in spite of having and then not having a red dress.

A most touching write.

Helen

Marchmadness
Member Rara Avis

since 2007-09-16

Posts 9271
So. El Monte, California

10 posted 2011-04-26 01:19 AM

Very touching write with many layers of love, Margherita.
Ida

Margherita
Member Seraphic

since 2003-02-08

Posts 22236
Eternity

11 posted 2011-04-26 09:06 AM

Dear Yann, thank you so much for your loving and kind comment. It is a personal story, but you are right there are too many little girls in the world who can relate and who lack love, where a red dress would be the last needed thing .... In the betrayal of a child's confidence, therein lies the real gravity. You are right also by saying there is nothing more beautiful than a child's smile and shining eyes.

Thank you, dear D., for coming in here and with such a loving comment. It made me want to find a picture of those times together with Mom, but it will not be so easy ...

Dear Helen, thank you from my heart for your beautiful and sensitive comment. You are right, such events make us more capable to feel compassion, as we know how such things affect the heart. Both my Grandmother and my Mother were two exceptional women who loved me much ... and still go on loving me, I am sure.

Yes, dear Ida, "layers of love" indeed! Thank you so much for your loving comment.

Love and joy.
Margherita

"Love is the One who masters all things;
I am mastered totally by Love."
(Rumi)

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