Tiny Warriors

Piles of snowballs and sticks and rocks and sneakers buried in fresh dirt.
And stomping and yelling like wild things over destroyed castles once standing tall in the sand.
Buried in tunnels and grimy palms, two shiny eyes see the world expanding in front of them.
Mountains of sadness and lonely trees surround, their branches strain to join them, and above, the sky is a twinkling ball of exploration.
Laying in stained t-shirts with a fortress of soft mushy grass cushioning tiny bodies:
A bunny, a snake, a happy face. Look! A pirate ship!
And then, lit from within, a collection of ordinary items becomes a place to hideaway from the gasoline and the asphalt.
And inside a circle of beady eyes and polyester stuffing propped up and spoken to, their ears can never hear the secrets so they will never tell them, but still, they hang on to every word.
And outside, squirming tiny bodies hiding in sticks and leaves and mud climb trees. They, the tiny warriors protecting what they don't understand and they don't need to understand. The burden is not for them.
And all the while we will reach up and our eyes will grow accustomed to the sight of lonely and broken castles.
We will get used to this world without tunnels and forts and our running and stomping will slow to a crawl.
But, they are still our tiny protectors who brandish their wooden swords and shields and clash together.
And in time, their tiny bodies will grow exhausted, their shiny eyes will grow heavy and safety and sleep and will be found in a big warm pile of tiny beating hearts and stretching hands.
A real pile.
And bright, shiny eyes, with the world ever expanding in front of them, will close and dream.
And they will sail far from these mountains of sadness and these lonely statues of trees who cry for they cannot join them, though their branches do strain so, they are rooted too far in the ground. Their running and stomping has slowed to a crawl and now they sink into the loose mud.
Now they will sail on, these tiny warriors, who don't have to understand these burdens, and they will yell without words for all those who can yell no longer.
And they will howl at the sky like wild things.