A Fairy Tale Love (Madison Elizabeth Holland-Lafayette, LA)

In those long ago and far away days
I was a little girl, a child fed on romance and fairy tales,
The scraps of some kind of imaginary adult life
That I pieced together
From songs and folklore and encyclopaedias
My own little dreamed up future
With Prince Charming and babies
And magic and beauty and comfort
A Perfect Life.
I idolized him because he sang of love and pretty girls Yet he had the roguish airs I recognized
From the handsome True Loves
I found between the worn covers of my library books
I was convinced with all the seriousness of a young girl
That he was my destiny, my future,
And no one could have told me otherwise.
As with any young girl's dreams,
Mine did not so much die as were replaced
By other, more mature longings
For someone else, most likely even more unattainable
When I hear those songs now, as an adult,
I am reminded of my childhood adoration
And remember that little girl fondly
Because even though her dreams may have been
Lofty or unrealistic or silly
They were something she believed in wholeheartedly
And goals she clung to stubbornly
Despite any obstacles, acknowledged or not.

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