I can still see

I can still see her crooked pigtails,
(like the ones I had at her age)
her wide smile and freckles,
how chubby she was, how determined,
so regal.
I remember her awkward walk,
her hands sticking out in front of her body
like a robot, chin jutting forward, only
a bag filled with school books kept her
from falling forward.
One day her hands fell back to her
sides and she walked like a princess,
so regal.
I remember not so long ago when she
headed east alone towards her future,
she looked back briefly towards me,
I waved and she smiled.
So regal.