Flying Smiles

Anona O’Dell

Today the sun was passing through the leaves 
making that green color that I love so much. 

There were butterflies flying silently by. 
They always seem to fly in no particular direction. 
As though they are not completely in control of where they are going. 
I can relate to that feeling. 

It was the pause in that moment that made me think of her. 
She loves butterflies. 
She has a calm about her that has always enabled her to catch them 
with out any difficulty at all. 

She would just walk up and cup her hands gently around them. 
It was as though they wanted the little angel to hold them for a moment. 

She called them Flying Smiles. 
She has many words and idioms that are hers alone 
and I smile each time I remember one of them. 

That is the feeling that love is. 

I can see her smiling in my minds eye. 
Caught like a snapshot she didn’t know I would take. 
Innocent, uncertain and so delicate. 

The fingers of her tiny hands opening carefully
to release the tender treasure into the world 
and back into my memory on days like this.