Her Red Coat (Poetry)

She was a figure out of fairytale
in that bright red hooded coat
I see her in the distance still
a speck of childhood waving there
her name caught in my throat

It warmed her through a winter’s chill
when she was three or four
I’ve kept it all these many years
though she’s been grown and lost to me
now longer than a score

Flesh of my flesh filled out each sleeve
small proof of blood she ran
through snowy fields along with me
her scarlet haunts the memory
as does a tugging hand