Dear, dear sprite…

and more…

Her lightest step is all she needs

to round the garden in her tour,

she makes no stand,

and fills the air with cherub chatter,

she makes scant imprint in the earth…

The elfin miss delights in play,

so wild, winsome,

willing to sing

what happiness she feels,

we little know its measure

nor the nature of her laugh, her smile,

the chirp of her siren sound.

Dear, dear sprite, she hops and bounces,

we scarcely reck the eldritch stuff,

what seems of perverse end

does not sustain a care

beyond the moment’s wisp of dread

that’s clapped away in her dance.

Her lightest step is all she needs

to round the garden in her tour,

she makes no stand,

she flutters, frisks in merriment,

and makes her joy…

June 12, 2022

Inspired by the child, Pearl, in The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.

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Your comments are welcome—tell me what you’re thinking.

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