Poem to Arabella

Child of light
skipping down the eggshell path
of your butterfly years

yellow tendrils
skying wild behind you
swept back by your delight

a flower about to open
about to gladden the world
petal by milky petal

gather me a daisy chain
made from your joy
to wear in my winter

when the glow of now
pales to the far scent
of fragile frost

Arabella of the marigold ways
running across deep October fields
drowning me in pollen

of your madcap years
making pain seem solace
all child and sudden wisdom

amazing me.

Adapted from a poem by Christy Brown