PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

Once upon a time, there was a little girl. The little girl lived in a very large castle, far away from the rest of the world. The castle had endless rooms and very tall walls. The little girl loved the castle, for every day she discovered some new place in it.

However, it was also a very lonely castle. There did not seem to be any other people living in it besides the little girl. Sometimes, she had the feeling that she would occasionally find someone else in one of the rooms, and spend the day with them, but as the days went on, such encounters seemed as if they were only dreams. In fact, sometimes it seemed as if the little girl was entirely a dream. When she really thought about it (which was rarely), she could not remember where she came from, or how she got there.

But these thoughts did not trouble her most of the time, for there was so much to explore and discover. One evening, the little girl found an old wooden door that she did not remember seeing before. She opened it and saw a stone staircase, leading upwards. The little girl was not one to resist mysterious staircases, so she immediately ran in and tumbled up the large stone steps, almost as if she were climbing a mountain, as the steps were quite tall for her little legs.

The stairs seemed to go on forever. Up and up the little girl climbed, getting excited as she went. She had a small hope in her heart that these stairs would finally lead her to see the open sky. For you see, the little girl had only ever glimpsed the outside through tiny windows. Finally, she felt a cool breeze on her face. The stairs ended, and she found herself in a large empty courtyard. The little girl looked up, and gasped in wonder.

She had made it to the very top of the castle, somewhere she had never been before. And there above her was the open night sky, dotted with stars. The little girl, exhausted from her climb, lay down on the cool stone ground and looked up at the dark sky.

“What a beautiful thing is the sky,” she thought, her eyes darting from star to star. Her eyes landed on one star in particular, that seemed a little brighter than the rest. The star seemed to twinkle at her once she noticed it, and she smiled.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind her. She stood up, startled, and turned around. An elderly gentleman stood there, in long grey robes, and the little girl recognized him right away. “Hello Magician!” she said excitedly. “I forgot you! I thought you were a dream. Why does this always happen? Why did the stairs lead to the sky? Why is that star twinkling at me? Who am I, why am I all alone here?”

The little girl had so few chances to speak to someone (if they were someones at all, and not simply dreams) that her questions came tumbling out all at once, for fear he would disappear before they were all asked.

“Hello little one”, said the gentleman. “I see you have found me again. I do not understand why you insist on calling me ‘magician’ – there is no such thing as magic, or those who perform it. I am simply a wanderer.”

The little girl ignored this. “Magician, why is that star twinkling at me? I have this strange feeling inside me, like I know that star. I think that star is a person. I think I met him before, and we had adventures together, and then he flew away to become a star in the sky and I fell asleep and became a dream of a little girl all alone in a castle.”

The little girl trembled a little inside. It was not often that she had such strange thoughts.

“Little one, calm yourself. Those thoughts in your head are only dreams. A star cannot be a person, and a little girl in a castle can be nothing more than a little girl in a castle. You must sleep now.”

And the little girl did indeed feel herself getting sleepy. Her eyes felt heavy, and she lay back down on the stone floor. The ‘magician’ took off one of his robes and gently lay it over her. He was worried for the little girl. She was starting to remember things she should not remember; things that would bring back her unhappiness. It was better that she not remember. But he did not know how to stop it. He knew she would remember him when she woke up, and that was not how things should be. The spell was coming undone. He quietly went down the stairs and disappeared.

While the little girl slept, she dreamed. Her dreams were full of strange things. Water all around, and a long thin boat that she paddled with someone else she could not see. Bowls and boards full of chopped up coloured foods, on their way to becoming something delicious to eat. Small flutters of brown, blue, and red, that came and stole almonds and fluttered away again. Stories of a man who flew around in box that scared her, but some warmth always there to soothe the fears. Trees with long branches and eagles that spoke.

When the little girl awoke, it was still dark. She sat up and hugged her knees, looking up at her star. “I know you,” she whispered, not caring what the magician said. “I know you used to be a person and I used to play with you. “

The little girl’s eyes filled with tears that did not fall, and blurred her vision of the stars. Her star sparkled even brighter and bigger.

“You are my shiny star,” she whispered up to it. “And I will find you again.”