To Me

From another time, she comes.
A time to be hidden, a time to be mourned.

She carries the burden of shame.
The shame she brought her family.

So she moves very carefully.
Not to lose balance.

She carries the weight of disappointment.
The disappointment expressed in the sighs of professionals.

So she moves with fearfulness.
Never trying means never failing again.

She carries the need for invisibility.
The invisibility that comes from being a good girl, sitting quiet.

So she moves in tiny steps.
She's become the shadow she no longers casts.

Every day she comes into my office and looks at me.
I say 'hello' and smile, opening myself to being with her.

She nods, turns and leaves.
But once she sat down, once she talked to me.

Every day I wait to hear her voice again.
And don't.

But today, something new.
Something surprising.

On careful feet she came in, looking to see if I was there.
I was.

I said hello.
She smiled.

And left.
That's why I come to work.

Perhaps not much to you.
The world, all and everything, to me.