The Girl I Knew

I saw her growing up,
From a lil' baby she was,
To the girl that she had become.

There she was,
Lying like an angel,
Lost in her deep slumber,
With a droopy smile
That never left her face.
And giggling at seldom.

When she started walking,
You couldn't catch her.
And when she started with words,
She went on for hours.
So determined, so keen,
She had everyone's hopes soaring.

She'd run babbling around,
Almost everywhere.
Little was she aware of
Where her footsteps lead her to ..

Swinging on the swings,
Sliding down the slides,
Hanging from the poles,
Running through the lanes,
Dancing in the rains,
Splashing the mud-pools,
Chasing the butterflies,
Whispering to flowers,
Hugging the sky,
Giggling at her naughtiness,
And looking at the never-ending world
With her big, innocent eyes.
She was life, the joy and the happiness.

Dreamy,
She used to lay on the cool grass,
Listening to the chirping birds,
Looking into the seamless sky,
Lost in her fantasy world.
Flying like a bird,
Higher and higher.
The soft breeze, ruffling her hair.

Slowly and slowly,
As she grew up,
Her thoughts were subdued.
Subdued by the weary world.
She was losing this war,
Against the fast-paced world.
She was becoming weak,
Being left behind somewhere.

Strangled in her web of imagination,
Suffocated with her loneliness,
Engulfed in her own silence,
Her tears mixed with the drops of rain.
Lost in the unlimited darkness.

The girl I knew,
Was now nowhere,
Stolen by this world,
Struggling through a life,
The one she not owned.

I want her back.