Swiping away the tears

Perhaps it's the altitude that has heightened my emotions

That and the free booze

But my feelings suddenly become turbulent

I miss my little girl.

Instinctively I clutch at my phone

And begin thumbing my way through the reams of her pictures

Frantically.

As if hoping to wipe away the smear of her absence

But as my thumb strokes the skin of her many faces

I feel only the poor conductivity of the glass.

Yet I chuckle

I chuckle at her ‘put-on’ smiles

No doubt copied from some YouTube clip

(Somehow, asking her to ‘smile’ now elicits this response)

But I don’t mind

Because my mind autocorrects each one to her real smile

A smile that can’t be captured by a phone

A smile that is untouched by the temerity of technology

A smile that must be felt, not viewed

Shared in real-time, not timelines

Loved, not liked

It snorts from tickles under the arm

And roars from stupid rhymes and funny faces

It is a smile that makes me a 4 year old too

That closes the strange app of adults

And pulls out crayons instead

In this world, we are best friends

Sitting giddy-kneed at the table

Drawing stickmen Mummies and Daddies

And eating goûter

Swiping away the tears

I swipe through pictures of you

To wipe away how much I miss you

As my finger strokes your myriad of faces

I begin to chuckle at your ‘put-on’ smiles

No doubt copied from some YouTube clip or TV show

Somehow shouting ‘smile’ at you now elicits this response

But I don’t mind, because my mind autocorrects each one to your real smile

A smile that can’t be captured by a phone

A smile that is untouched by the presumptions of technology

A smile that must be felt, not viewed

Shared in real-time, not timelines

Loved, not liked

It gushes from tickles under the arm

And pours out of stupid rhymes and funny faces

It is a smile that makes me a 4 year old too

That closes the strange app of adults

And pulls out crayons instead

In this world, we are best friends

Experiencing the world together through a kaleidoscope

Drawing stickman Mummies and Daddies

And eating goûter