fantasy flower

"you need an orange flower
with a pink middle
bright enough to cheer up the blackest of days"

she declared then rolled away on her bike to
bring me back the most brilliant flower

... only all of the petals had blown away

"all you've got left is the centre," she wept

"that's all i need," i whispered "the petals were merely orange wings helping the flower fly to where it belonged

"now that it's here, they're free to go. "

my little friend smiled, tucked her blond head into my shoulder, and we pretended to play "he loves me, he loves me not" with the petal-less flower till the sun ducked down

and she biked home. it was the brightest of days.