What tales have you to tell me? She asked.

"Well darlin', I drew my stories across the board a good bit ago, and am not sure if I have any left."

The little girl squealed with her eyes.

The woman smiled back with a look that lived a hundred years.

“But darlin', I will tell you a tale with pain. I will tell you something real. A story that runs as deeply, sharply, longingly, caged and freed as the plethora of rivers across the wilted grass, across the greenest ferns.

The little girl’s eyes groped for a path she could form through the ferns the woman was describing.

"O'er the mountain and atop a hill", she began. "I heard the flowers, I felt the candlelight."

The young girl turned in exasperation, and yearned to listen again.

"That makes no sense."

"Honey, for now, listen. O'er the mountain and atop a hill, I heard the moonlight, I smelled the wind. O’er the mountain and atop a hill, I grew my heart anew."

The girl sighed with a sleepiness that took her away as the woman spoke softly.

"You see, once down a while ago, there was a one who had the feet of a little un' like you. Feet she believed could carry her anywhere. And honey, they did.

You see, child, a man who spoke of a twinkle in his eye,

Well he held her, at times even wiped the tears from her eyes

And they ferried away

With a gaze for days,

To play outside and across the field in the sun's rays.

That's the dream she had, until it flew the other way.

That’s the story they wrote, child, it lasted for days.

But in pain she watched, watched as skies grayed,

As he let the good book get in the way.

The girl looked only her feet as she sprinted away,

She turned to see him smile one more time in skies of gray.

And she followed them, she did, followed for days.

Until she could run far, far away.

You see, he sprinted away, in a million ways.

Yes from her heart he took the long way away.

He broke her heart and all he could do,

All he told her to do, hon, was pray.

She couldn’t agree,

Never could agree,

To a life so fitted, so exclusive you see

So the little girl, cried on the inside.

And she saw only her feet as she sprinted away.

She cried "O'er the mountain, a top a hill

Forget you not, no I won't, forgot

O'er the mountains and atop that hill,

Yes sadly I haven't forgot.

For in better or worse,

They always told me.

A part of your life, one day you shall see.

For its the Lord's way,

And darlin' just pray,

For better for worse, lest the devil get me."

The little girl cried, on the inside

Watching minds shattered, watching lives tied

As they attempt to mold bodies

As they attempt to break hearts

Yes along with others pained, on the inside she cried.

For a time, in anger, she cried on the inside,

Thought of all those to which it lied

Said "Thank you to you, I can't unsee,

The vision of myself you clearly did need.

To instill that fear, that hate to feed.

Yes that knife in my heart you surely did need."

The little girl wept for the others, she wept for the pain in the woman’s voice.

"But why? When does it end?

And when do the leaves become golden again?"

The woman smiled back at her tears

With a look that softened a million years.

"Honey, listen to the trees turn their leaves.

And surely, surely they’ll turn, just believe me.

The woman continued with a voice that stroked, a thousand guitars' musical note.

“Honey times aged

And the winds, they changed

And as some grew colder,

The girl, she grew older.

And she found worlds apart from the one they first showed her

Worlds where others could cry on other’s shoulders.

Worlds where they could nurture with their tears water

And worlds where they turned to each other and said, “We’ll make it through, together we’ll refine the stones that may bother.

They told her, “We’ll take those stones

Those that they threw at us hard

We’ll shave those stones down

Make them nice and round

And some we’ll reform,

Some we’ll even re-sculpture.

Yes we’ll take those stones and make them our own.”

“Yes for years this girl, with new friends she grew.

And there came days she could scream on that mountain anew.

Scream about dreams, dreams that turned true.

Scream about love, my child, things we deserve, as surely we all do.

And when they cried, even on the inside,

These friends took each others’ hands, made screens in spite

Made screens of straw, that which grew so strong,

To hold the hearts that bled at night.

Turned the bleeding into new hopes, hopes without any cap.

Yes ne’er mind the loud screaming on the mountains in the back,

Because her new worlds told her that she could

My child, told her that she could scream back.

So as they came after her through the pine trees

She stopped and turned, and ate the air

And as they came after her, through the pine trees

She decided she'd walk her own way.

For she remembered she had feet, a little un' like you.

‘Membered they took her anywhere, they did, it's true.

So she spread her arms and felt the air,

Called out to new friends, those who truly did care.

They spread out their arms, and together they bared,

And they truly sailed the air.

When she looked at those contrasts dear, differences around her, near and nigh,

Felt the love grown anew, across these soft nights

She remembered her dreams, remembered that she might.

In contrasts abound, dreamt stories, dark and light

Beautiful stories, hon, those that grew her

Stories from others, even those that didn’t know her

Stories she learned from, worlds apart

Stories she found strength to tell from her own heart.

Those stories that hold her, in the dawn and at night.

When the sun is still setting, and stars twinkle bright

She glows and she darkens, all in strength and beauty

With the love she remembered and that which she grew,

Yes, with these stories she grew so bright.

And o’er the mountain and atop a hill,

As contrasts abound just as birds tweet shrill,

Beautiful contrasts, dear, the world so filled.

She sang at the top of her voice on that hill.

"Over yonder and down the sand dunes,

I saw your song, and I wrote my beat.

Over yonder and down the sand dunes,

We wished upon a new dream too."

The woman whispered the girl as she slept in their home, a voice that softened a million stones.

“What I wish for you to hear, my dear.

Feel the moonlight. It will always be near.

Smell the sunlight, and touch the wind.

Feel your contrast to the earth, to others far and around the bend.

Grow in your wonder, nurture those stories.

For together in love you will breathe with the world without end.

Yes, hear the stars, my darlin'. And kiss the moon.

You’ll see for sure, tears will be brushed soon.

Yes my twinkle that rests in my eye, very soon

You’ll be writing, hearing, learning stories, singing your own tune.

Yes hear the stars, and kiss the moon.

And the girl breathed a smiling sigh that bespoke the moons of centuries to come.