I am awakened by the need for you, little girl. I can feel the warmth of your 10-year-old body, as you lay so close to me. The sweet scent of your fragrance from yesterday still lingers in the air. You surround me.
I slowly turn on my side to look at you. Your face and arms are above the comforter, but the rest of you is hidden, hidden and tantalizing. I lay there in complete amazement. Amazed that a child as beautiful and young as you could be here in bed with me. I see the smoothness of your skin, the peace on your face, and the softness of your lips.
I want to awake you, but I resist.
With your breathing, so soft and so silent, you look like a statue of a tiny angel-child, … formed by an artisan.
I want to touch you but I resist.
I look at your moist lips. Lips I have kissed a thousand times. I want to kiss them now, but to do so would wake you and I want to take in as much of this quiet moment as I can.
I want to kiss you but I resist.
I see your eyes closed in slumber. Yet, it's as though they are open, because I know the depth of your eyes, eyes that show me your very soul. I wish your eyes were open, and yet I want this moment all to myself. I have become selfish of this moment. It is a moment that cannot be shared. It is a moment that only I can drink in.
I want to kiss your eyes, but I resist.
Your hair, the hair I so frequently curl in my fingers, so often hold in both my hands. The hair that always has the sweet smell of baby shampoo and lollipops. The hair I love to bury my face in. It is there, on the pillow, reminding me of how young you are, surrounding your face, highlighting your alabaster skin, as though it were a picture frame.
I want to touch your hair, but I resist.
I close my eyes, and I see all the beautiful moments that we have already shared, and many that will come. I am filled with love for you Annie, for this moment will last forever in my mind, because it is a moment that can never be diminished by time or distance.
You are never apart from me, always in my mind, and forever in my heart.