Abby & the Sea

The following is a poem I wrote quite a long time ago about a little girl named Abby and what growing up does to her.  I decided to use this poem as the basis for my short story involving character because when I wrote about "Adrian" in a previous blog post, I liked his physical features but felt like his character was still hollow.  Putting some of Adrian into Abby made complete sense, and I decided to take the poem and transform it into a short story (which is currently being edited).

Abby & the Sea

When you are a little girl,
There is no such thing
As feeling the weight of the world.
When you are a little girl,
Life is light like air we breathe,
And as precious as pearl.

When you are so very small,
But your imagination so very big,
Life seems as grand as castles built in sand.
When you are so very small,
You question and answer everything,
But who could ever explain why trees grow so tall?

When she was a little girl,
Abby never felt very small,
And she always found her home
By the big lake, that was more like a sea,
Where her parents would take her
For one week in the hot summer.

When Abby saw the lake,
Her imagination would overtake,
Like light in darkness, the world around her.
The lake became a sea, and
Across the waters existed a faraway land
Where her noble steed would wait.

When she dreamed of traveling there,
She would believe she had sprouted wings,
Sailing the skies across the sea.
When she finally would land,
A charming Prince would take her hand,
And the beaches had glitter for sand.

When a little girl grows up,
In say, 12 or 13 years,
Things begin to grow different.
When a little girl grows up,
The world weighs a little more,
And things are never the same as before.

When you become of age,
Your parents may decide to separate.
The world is beyond your control.
When you become of age,
You do things that are bad for you,
And think you've seen nothing new.

When Abigail's parents got a divorce,
This meant no more summers at her lake.
The Kings and Queens of her imagined land
Must have forgotten her,
And she went by Abigail now, so
She smoked a cigarette and thought about life.

When her friend noticed she was rather sad,
She decided to take Abigail to the lake.
Abigail didn't want to go,
But went anyways because deep down,
There is a seed of magic that always wants
To return to the place where it was planted.

When Abigail and her friend got to the lake,
A canoe for two rested near the shore.
They decided to hop in,
And Abigail rowed and rowed
And rowed and rowed
And rowed and rowed and rowed.

When they finally reached the other side
Of that lake that was as big as the sea,
Abigail had made it to the Kingdom,
And the people shouted, "Our Princess! It is she!"
Life is hard, and sometimes tragic,
But Abby vowed to never forget that magic.