Sitting by the door of a basilica church in Florence
I was told she was one of the many gypsy children
Lost in the tourist crowds begging each day
She spotted me looking at her from afar
I so wanted to capture her delicacy in a photograph
She looked down, shy, embarrassed....
I thought she looked like she rather be outside playing
Hey hey little girl
I've thought of you often
You may have been forced into a life of begging or even thievery
Through generational circumstances uncontrollable by you
As I walked by her
I dropped a few Euro change into her small palm
She looked up at me
And her face cracked into a smile
With her beautiful greenish-brown,glassy eyes
Later in the day our paths crossed again
She happily pointed me out to her unsmiling Mom
I was embarrassed that I had not given her a couple of million Euros
To have elicited such a grateful emotion
May you unfold as you bloom
Into this beautiful flower
For the world to behold your sweet, innocent beauty
While society around you is trying to figure out
What to do with your dear people
May you have a stirring awakening within you
To seek a path that is strangely outside the norm that has been laid before you
It need not be as it had been for your mother and foremothers
When you lay your head down at nite
And gaze up to the star studded sky
Know that there is a special star for you to touch and to own
OWN it and be the shinning Star yourself......
And when I meet you in the sky
I am sure I'll recognise you right away......