Baby Steps – Laura Lam

the little girl climbs up the stairs.

The blue door looms, the tiny hand

knocks, knocks, knocks, and waits for daddy.

The blue door opens─but too fast!

The little girl wobbles and falls

backwards, tumbling and twirling

like a marionette, strings cut.

Daddy cries and crabwalks, crabruns

down the stairs. Just before the ground

she is caught, lifted high. Unharmed,

the parents hug and kiss her.

But was the door blue? But were the

stairs that high? She was falling down;

how could she see him follow her?

Afterwards, did the little girl

cry, or did she smile? Try as

I might, I just don’t remember.

The Young Poet Rumi - Skip Noah