Why Did That Make You Cry?

And when they looked at her they thought they had never before known what beauty meant.

I have read this book often enough
That two sentences before that line,
I had to swallow back tears.
And after I read it,
The boys asked, bemused,
“Why did that make you cry?”

Why, indeed.

Because who of us knows such beauty,
And yet don’t we all want to?

Because I know that this girl will marry the king,
Will have a son,
Will be bit by a serpent and die.

Her beauty will go out of the world.

Not that Narnia is a real world.
Yet she is a real character,
And I grieve her loss,
And the loss of those who love her.

I didn’t say any of that to my sons,
Ages six, eight, and ten,
As they waited to hear
What happens next.