To Honor Her - My Inner Child

Speaking gibberish,
Pretending to say things in English,
She looked at herself in the mirror,
Hoping one day she might sound like a native speaker.
The journey of a million miles,
Dreamed by my inner child,
She was dancing at Mile number five,
Many decades from the finish line.

Today I sit in my alabaster cocoon,
Dimly lit by the crescent moon,
Reflecting on little me in ponytails,
Never once she thought she would ever fail.
It didn’t matter how many mountains she needed to climb,
She never cared; she never calculated the amount of time
it would take a foreign tongue to command another;
She never cared; it didn’t matter!

All she knew was this…
Her life would be incomplete without English,
A soul level type of fascination,
Something beyond grown-ups’ comprehension.
It all began with gibberish,
Then it became years of practice,
A combination of talent and dedication, 
At times, it started to resemble spiritual devotion.

Today I look at myself in the mirror,
I sound almost like a native speaker,
But I can’t feel the joy that she would have felt,
I can’t find that same spark I used to have in my younger self!
I’ve been living her wildest dream every single day,
But a series of storms have hit my ship and I’ve flipped sideways,
I’ve been too busy trying not to drown,
The story of her greatness has been dumbed way down.

So, to make up for all the time that I’ve taken her for granted,
I’ll walk myself center stage proudly as a poet,
I’ll reclaim myself as a dreamer,
That’s the least I can do to honor her!

-- May 22, 2026