Two Worlds and a Fence

We are on a playground, swinging, jumping, sliding, climbing.

A child and I, 

imagining ourselves in jungles and in space and on a pirate ship.

The captain commands me most insistently to walk the plank, 

and I plunge into the deep waters below,

only to be rescued by a mermaid.

We pretend together, the child and I, 

that we are on a trek to find a lost princess.

Together we slay a fiery dragon, 

and the fearless knight beside me chooses to adopt its baby

and ride it with the princess through the night sky filled with fireworks.

In the midst of our world where birds have fins and fishes have wings,

I stop. I hear a sound,

A shout, a squeal of glee,

a voice so like that of the child right next to me,

pure and sweet, full of laughter and joy and innocent pleasure.

From where had this laugh come?

From a child, of course, so like the one I held in my arms,

yet so different, for this voice came through the trees from a home we could not see,

from another child experiencing the same fun,

the same imaginings,

the same games that we were playing.

But this was one adventure we could not investigate,

 a dragon we could not conquer,

a maiden we could not save,

for a fence stood in our way.

A fence, cold and gleaming,

inhibiting our clearing a path through the trees.

A stark, cold reminder of things this child does not yet know,

cannot yet comprehend,

yet must live with every day.

A reminder that this child is separated from the world for a time,

to fervently be fiercely protected,

to nourishingly be physically and spiritually fed,

to lovingly be recognized as a child of God.

The fence is not the only thing 

that separates the invisible, laughing child 

from the one standing next to me.

The child beside me laughs, pulling me back to our playground fun.

This child is one who, 

perhaps, 

could have been no different than the ones I hear through the trees.

Maybe one day, this child, too, will be free. 

Free to pretend, 

to imagine, 

to create

in a world no longer guarded by fences.

In a world where children can laugh and play without fear

and where they can swim to the moon 

and fly through the waves.