field of regret

I can see her.
So far away,
across the field
where I wish she’d stay.

I should know by now
that my wishes simply don’t come true.
And so she makes her way over
for she doesn’t have a clue.

She blissfully strides across the field.
A doll-like figure
with pigtails in her hair.
That she grins so wide her dimples shine through,
a blinding reminder of my youth
comes into view.

Crossing the field, she is caught in my gaze;
hope floods the irises of her eyes.

Doe-eyed with a brown so deep,
she is lost deeply in what she could be.

As she gets closer to who she is now,
the doll-like figure
slowly disappears.
I can see the despair,

as she creeps toward my presence—
the presence of who she became,
her face falls:
regretful of the void she fell into.

I wonder if she hopes
to one day see
the woman
she could one day be.