Alice

Boot heals snapping on a concrete sidewalk.

Fearless on the train uptown.

Undaunted by a cold winter in Harlem.

Came here to the city of heroes

To compete, to measure.

Never looked back, always advancing.

Here you learned to calm the calls of the little ones,

The lost ones sent to drift on a puzzle at sea.

Gave them peace, treasures of love.

Years before that same girl sat on the porch steps,

A menagerie of play before her,

Wearing espadrilles and a red school dress.

Fixing things even then.

Don’t forget.

For you are Glinda.