The Blue Girl

by Margarita Engle

Once there was, and was not, a castle by the sea.

On the roof, there was a statue of a young woman, carved in blue stone.

Far below, a young castle guard stood on the ground, looking up at the statue.

She never moved, but she moaned.

When a bird landed beside the statue, she came to life,

and flew away with the bird.

The young guard saw her fly, but he was afraid to tell anyone,

because he imagined that people would call him a liar,

or think he was crazy.

So the blue girl was free to fly,

and live as a bird.

Every time she landed on the castle roof,

the young guard looked up,

and wished he could go with her.

One day, he did.

Now, the tale is over.

About the Author:
Margarita Engle is a botanist and the Cuban–American author of three books about the island, most recently The Poet Slave of Cuba, a Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano (Henry Holt & Co, 2006), currently nominated as an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. Short works appear in a wide variety of journals, including previous issues of the Journal of Mythic Arts. Current honors include a Pushcart Prize nomination, and semi–finalist selection for the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. Margarita lives in California, where she enjoys hiking and helping her husband with his volunteer work for wilderness search and rescue dog training programs.

"The Blue Girl" copyright © 2007 by Margarita Engle. This poem may not be reproduced in any form without the author's express written permission.