Revisionist Poetry – “A Child Before the Snakes” – Innocence, Courage, and my Sabine, v.3

How proud I was—
how deeply, almost painfully proud—
to stand beside my child
as danger leaned close and found her smiling.

At the reptile zoo
she faced the pythons,
five patient serpents coiled in expectation,
their silent gaze fixed on her.

I held my breath.

But Sabine stood steady,
not hardened, not careless,
only open to wonder.
Then the zookeeper placed them on her,
and their slick bodies settled
around her small, certain frame.

She laughed.

A bright, unguarded laugh
that seemed to break the room open.
In that sound was no fear,
only delight,
as pure as sunlight on water.

I watched her and understood
that courage is not always defiance.
Sometimes it is wonder.
Sometimes it is tenderness
in the presence of what might frighten us.

And in my child,
I saw both.
I saw a strength that did not boast,
a joy that did not blink,
a life already reaching outward,
already glowing.