Paradise

Today I drew a picture.  It started out with a smiling sun, and fluffy clouds nestling a rainbow.  An island with a palm tree hanging low to touch the sand with jagged fronds.  An empty sea, and a wavering figure sitting alone upon the beach, gazing at a bird in her outstretched hand.  I erased the sun, the clouds, the rainbow.  Somehow they didn't belong.  And the sky became as empty as the sea below, with the girl caught unawares in between.