The Girl Across the Way

Poem of the Day:
"Dramatis Personae" by Aaron Fagan
Echo Train


Since Dan and Steph have left the house things have been quieter, and sounds from the neighbors have been wafting through. There is the Russian man who lives across the street, bald and, from what I can tell, alone. There is the couple and their young son who moved in next door. And, there is the little girl who lives down the street.

She is a chatty one. She and her mother have breakfast every morning out on their small stoop, and I can hear her talking away, so lively for daybreak.

I wonder how much sugar her mom puts in that cereal...

I shouldn't complain. Waking up to the wide-eyed lilt of a four (perhaps five?) year-old is enlivening. Fagan's poem reminded me of her, and how when I leave the house every morning her innocent voice gets slowly lower in volume, finally disappearing.


Dramatis Personæ

Once upon a time,
Books began this
Way—the O of once let
The reader beware up
Front that a story as
Ornate and colorful as
We are would follow—
And not for any of us
To be shocked to find
We must return and
Stand for what we are.


Sincerely,
A Poem A Day Audrey