A cry, so soft and quiet you'd almost miss it

But he waited above her eager to hear the first gust of air to whoosh from her lips for longer than he'd like to admit it

It waits for someone to hear

And he softly cries back, staring right into the sun cradled in his arms

He clutches the small outstretched pinky in the palm of his hand and waits

Waits to see the hands grow big enough to hold his own

It's all smiles.

The seed planted in love and watered with affection and care grew into a healthy sapling

Which meant too much energy and far too many questions about the world

Her hands barely touch around the swell of his forearm now

He still waits. A patient gardener and an even more patient dad.

His small sun wants to be basked in and he allows himself to be pulled off the couch

So small but a whole family of planets revolved around her

A galaxy still young and new

New and old mix together and intertwine; he locks their fingers together and they go outside to play like he promised

Her hands feel rough as she rubs the tears from her eyes

Everything stings

Curled away from the world like a petal left in the dark

She silently cries

There is no answer.

The only scene in a play that’d repeat every night

They'd set the scene with game controllers and eager eyes but it'd always end the same way

An empty spot on the couch and smoke from his bedroom suffocating her sadness

Waiting is wasting in times like these

The sun comes back out from behind the smoke clouds

Her fingertips only go as far as his knuckles now but she's grown everywhere else

A stunted tree with roots still weak and new

She's into soccer right now, her hands savoring every game as a new cut or bruise on her abused goalie palms

The craziest mix of cupcake dresses and scuffed dirt-caked heels that would drive her mom crazy

He was to one to put the band-aids over the small cuts and tell her stories of what memories were stored in his wrinkles and marks

A burn he got as a child that looked like a really cool lightning bolt, spotty knuckle scars from fights he got into as a teen

She tried to imagine her dad riding on top of a subway as he explained the one on his calf

One day, the roots became thick with nutrients and set themselves firmly into the ground

She holds his hands in hers as they practice handshakes like her teacher talked about in class

Now, they can fist bump and high five.

But there's still some growing to do