The sparkler <br />amazed the dark <br /> <br />with the beauty <br />of itself. <br /> <br />The child <br />held it <br /> <br />with all the wonder <br />it could muster. <br /> <br />The dark <br />seemed scared <br /> <br />of it. <br /> <br />There were no words <br />to describe <br /> <br />how it lit up <br />our little minds. <br /> <br />“FULGENT! ” <br />her father proclaimed <br /> <br />as if he had been <br />reading my mind. <br /> <br />“FULGENT! ” <br />I said <br />(as if I had misheard) . <br /> <br />“You know... <br />bright...shinning...radiant! ” <br /> <br />He carefully constructed <br />his trap of words <br /> <br />to capture <br />the experience. <br /> <br />I hadn’t <br />known. <br /> <br />I wished I didn’t <br />know now. <br /> <br />I had loved it <br />in a wordless way. <br /> <br />I looked <br />at the dictionary bobbing <br /> <br />in his throat <br />pretending to be an Adam’s apple <br /> <br /> <br />secretly hating him <br />for naming it. <br /> <br />The child sensibly <br />not letting it past the whorl of her ear <br /> <br />continued <br />to look at it <br /> <br />(like I) <br />beyond words and only <br /> <br />in wonder.<br /><br />Dónall Dempsey<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/a-word-too-far-for-scarlett/
