small child

Good to have had empathy, says the small child in the lolly aisle. Breath like chocolate, the taste of the denied still on the lips which are stretched to screaming. Empty hands. I have anticipated this furious tearing away. I have empathised. On the point of shriek or tantrum I pause, strange dejavu. It settles me to know these things in advance. Everything has been before. This strange future knowledge is the echo of past lessons. I close my mouth, the shriek unuttered. I relax into the lesson.