Image credit: Zolotareva Elina/Shutterstock.com

I could not capture
the mystery
It was too deeply etched
on a face too hidden from full view
Those days we often laughed
and dreamt wild dreams
that only youth would dare to dream
And in those days I saw her
because only then would courage allow
a momentary glimpse
of the truly strange

I never knew if deep within
that mystery lay promise or fear
beauty or bestiality
I only saw that life was stranger
than my lessons had allowed
She may have been a sprite
or a trickster playing games
but whatever she was
I could not know her true

Years on but a memory
and one so ephemeral at times
I would believe if you told me
she was but a dream and I
a strange and fanciful child
had simply wanted to believe
But then I see her memory waft
up to an older and more cautious mind
and feel a primal fear
little recognised in youth
but which makes me shudder
in age

(c) Helen Valentina 2016