innocence: found

by Raine Wynd

the wary look in her seven-year-old eyes stops you,
makes you pause for a moment
makes you weep inside
for it speaks of a deep-seated pain
and of the kind of hard-won knowledge
even an adult hesitates to mention
but you have a request to grant
a balloon to give
a helium of hope
wrapped up in a teddy bear
she’d dropped on the floor of the store
and wordlessly you hand it over
and watch as she lights up with a smile