I was protecting a treasure

I was sharing a meal

I was hoping to learn the phases of the moon

each of these snapshots

so distant from that little girl

and yet her image replaced my own

as I allowed their opinions to matter

She radiated a different kind of beauty then

back when her toes got stepped on

she learned to tie her shoes

but now in this light

that knowledge slips away from me

like a sheer scarf, the illusion of comfort

and the treasure is exposed

as I am, raw and real

but feeling like contorted plastic

wrapped around these pictures

of stories I used to tell myself

before she even knew

how to tell fables