it was a white room
featureless but for a door
through which you wandered

you were tiny, with wispy dark hair
reaching almost to your feet
blowing past your ears in a mane as you walked

I first noticed your night gown
almost laughable in its lack of modernity

I looked into your eyes with green and yellow flecks
the curiosity on your face as you read mine.

I never met this version of you.

before whatever happened to make you lose sense past self
whoever hurt you
whatever they did

my mother, the child
before it all