Decay of a child

A farm, yes,
a farm, a real life farm.
Three horse and a dog and a cat.
What more could a little girl with
frizzy blonde curls
desire?

Well, she'd like some chickens or
maybe a cow... but those horses put
all else from her mind.
She soaks in their noses with
still growing hands... nothing on Earth could ever
feel so soft, so this must be what
beds in heaven are made of.

Grandma pats their flanks firmly
and it doesn't even hurt them!
She comes to the conclusion that
nothing hurts horses,
and she wants to be
that strong.

So she plays pretend,
crushing ant hills with
hot pink light-up hooves.
She runs up and down the dusty
gravel lane never wanting to stop, because
horses don't get tired.

They do die, though, and she'll
find that out soon enough. She'll find out that
horses die, farms get sold,
Grandpa gets sick, and Grandma gets old,
all while she learns to understand.

One day she stands alone in a
townhouse. All the furniture's present, and
all the same decorations, but it's a world and
15 minutes
away from that little girl's farm.

She clutches tight to
her own dog, well-loved but still mortal
(she knows that now),
and tries to bleed into him, to trade her
complicated and unnamed fears for his
free-spirited canine joy.

What will the world bring me next?

In memory of Tom Lowery.