National Poetry Month Day Eighteen

word group: chalk--rainbow--sidewalk--fade

The girl with blonde pigtails
greets early summer morning
in sneakered feet
shorts and sun blouse.
She hauls a bucket
of sidewalk chalk
to the corner
beneath the dappled shade
of a maple tree.
Amid the caws of crows
and sweet songs of sparrows
she draws a giant rainbow
on the concrete squares.
She stands back
hands braced on slender hips
and admires the bold colors
of her masterpiece.
The next day
a hundred footprints
and midnight rain
have faded her rainbow
even before
she finds
her pot of gold.