The Christmas Gift

beyond the little
girl's imagination
this bicycle (
pretty pink bow
tied to the seat
her aunt watching
tentative hands
over mouth
perhaps remembering
her own excitement
this dominant dream
realized
) completes her Christmas

it was all she wanted
being young
not knowing irony

after the accident
at the funeral
the aunt
more dead
than the child
suddenly feels the warmth
an angel's gift
the mother's hand