He Told Her

He told her,
that it is the slight pout she wears-unaware, the way she dances to the song in her head, her tiny feet bare, her braids everywhere.
He said it is the fluid way she switches between adult and little girl, responsibility and childlike hysteria. He told her, it is the way she never walks- always runs up the stairs, her pony tail bouncing delightfully behind her, and the way she looks up at him and for no apparent reason laughs. He said it is the pseudo bravery, trying to kill a bug while screaming at the top of her lungs. It is how she curls up in a ball on the couch, how her eyes light up at the sight of a coffee cup, how she hides in her shell when she has a long day, and later unfurls to envelope his soul with her love,open, undamaged, unbroken, unending.
She lay hidden under her ocean of teal covers,her breathing slow-she'd been sleeping for hours, and kneeling beside her bed,he finally told her.