We did everything in reverse order Poem by Lies Van Gasse

We did everything in reverse order:
your legs fell like branches from the sky,
I drew your arms into my palms

and I took you by the elbows
like a guardian angel.

Then you shrank, breasts and hips disappearing,
your jawline sharpened, and you skipped around in gardens.
You splashed around in a paddling pool, spun around in too-wide a skirt,
walked on Mum's high heels, your spoon ready to scrape out the cake bowl.

While your hair thinned and disappeared, finally your head grew,
until you became ever rounder and softer, your little eyes blue and new again,
but deeper in their sockets,

and back into me you disappeared.