Ode To A Child

I dreamt of you last night
Silver fish slipping through my waters.
You are not real, but in the night I felt you.

I named you Eva and your eyes were familiar. They looked at me with history and sorrow.

I know what your voice would sound like, how you would walk, I can see you skipping across a sunlit beach, tide bracing your slender ankles.

Paused on the rocks you look back at me, a hint of laughter, bright eyes in wonderment of creatures clinging to edges in the spray.

You are not real, nor ever will be, but in the night I know you.