Читать книгу Light in Light - Deborah Gerrish - Страница 13

Madame Alexander Dolls displayed in the gleaming

glass windows of Holder’s Variety Store. Sisters walk

me to the shop from home to rummage through

blue-floral boxes. Unfolding layers of tissue, we

marvel at dolls & miniature wardrobes of clothes.

Cissy Doll with chestnut hair and cream-rose complexion,

adorned in her coral chiffon hat framed in tulle

roseate trim, the moiré knee-length dress with three

quarter sleeves. On the dressing table, her soft silkaline

fabric brushes my wrists. The ballerina flared A-line

enhances her unblemished figure. That wide-eyed belle,

brilliant eyes with curvy lashes, lids that close and open.

I try on my doll’s hat; hold up her dress to the mirror.

Like the magnolia, her silence awakens

a wide sky, a cloud of being. Little women—

heritage creatures of eternity, flawless

porcelain faces, permanent rouge and

chignoned hair, starry eyes, ageless

pouting lips. Perfect. World without end like etched

scenes on an urn: hope & truth & grace in perpetuum.