I was found today
A tattered old thing
Glowing red eyes staring up from a box beaten by the hot summer sun
Most would have passed me by
Scared away by my time worn ugliness
But he saw the life I had
The stories I had lived in those sun-bleached eyes

A generation ago,
I wasn’t so ugly
I used to be loved and doted upon
I was new and beautiful
Cherished by a little girl as her best friend

Together, we danced with each pretend man that would be our future husband
We sipped tea with the queen
We scaled grand mountains
And battled terrifying dragons
Soared with the eagles
And swam with the dolphins
We went on grand adventures through muck and mire
And finished each day in baths of pearlescent bubbles

For years we played as sisters
And were inseparable
But, the years also brought change
She grew,
And gradually,
I was left behind

I didn’t happen overnight
As the girl’s body grew
I became less and less a part of it
I became part of the ideas better left behind
Better to be put in their place

I was relegated to a shelf
To watch as womanhood pushed me out of her life
While the dust grew
I watched her first kiss
And guarded the keys to her first car
That allowed her get further away from me even faster
I saw from the window
As she became our make-believe princess
And donned her shimmering prom dress
My eyes were a brilliant blue in those days
And I could see so much better

Then, one day,
I watched as she packed her room
Growing more barren each minute
Eventually, her mother returned
I was placed in a dark box
And hauled to the realm of forgotten loves
I spent my days itching from the fiberglass
And trying to prevent wasps from colonizing my body

I could no longer see anything with my eyes,
But my heart remembered everything
I dreamed of all the things
The girl imagined with me

I lost track of time in that attic
As I relived our adventures
In my fantasies I had grown with her
Both wearing our matching prom dresses
Both dancing with our princes at the ball
We would laugh as the wind blew our hair into tangled messes in her car

I am more than a slab of plastic
I am a totem for childhood hope
A guardian for the dreams she took off to chase

The light shone upon me again
Only when it was my time to go
I was placed in another box
This time on the lawn
With a 50 cent price tag
My life, my love, had lost its value

I was left in the sun
Forgotten, discarded
Until the natural brilliance of my eyes
Their tears and beauty
Leaked into the ground
Leaving behind only the crimson that had always been there

Until someone finally
Picked me
Dusted me off
Loved me for my red eyes
And put me on another shelf
Where I can collect dust anew