I touch the mirror with my hand
and it touches me back.
I look at the girl with hair tangled in a messy braid,
a ribbon hanging from it.
Tootoos match tights clinging to her skinny legs,
a hole reveals her bony knee.
I hang my head to see an identical hole in
my own.
A pair of pink ballet shoes cross my gaze.
I glance up at the tall girl in her matching leotard
Not a single hair out of place.
She kneels down so her face is level with mine
A smile spreads her lips,
pulling the dangling ribbon
from my hair.
She says I tried and that’s okay
That we’re suppose to fall to learn.
I nod my head slowly as she ties the ribbon
into a bow again.
She grows taller again,
so I have to look up.
“You’ll dance like us one day,” she says wondering back
to girls looking just like her.
One day you’ll wear these shoes.