Josie and the Goose

A knowing stare: the dingy wings holding still
Across from the stammering girl, her legs planted
On the leafy dirt, her eyes caught in stunning silence,
He holds her helpless heart in his gaze.

How can this bird of football fields and our own backyard steal her
Attention away from the tiger, the gorilla, or the carousel?
Like the slow motion smile of the boy with the blue eyes and the jersey,
Will she still long for that goose at bedtime?

But she is only three and it is only a goose.
If he broke a wall, it was only for a zoological moment.
Not a mythological link.
                                       Still, being so caught up,
How do I tell her his only hope was for
That snack in her hands. That she would
Give him her fruity comfort when she let it drop.