Raspberry Patch

Dew bead on tender raspberries,

Forming crystalline droplets,

Coruscating with the morning light.

Leisurely, the raspberries drip dry

In their lonesome garden,

Save for a little girl

With honey gold curls bouncing

As she giggles, fingers stained

With sticky red juice.

She smears her hands on her

Small white dress with frills

And gently lifts a ladybug

Off a wet emerald leaf.

The ladybug pauses,

Considers,

Then flutters away,

Leaving a little girl to stay

In the lonesome, abandoned

Raspberry patch.