nursery rhymes
remembering the fables of time of old
i used to read them as a child
lying next to my grandfathers
old cedar bookcase
with the stained glass windows
there i wold like on the faded rose carpet floor
and read to my hearts content
there the words would take me away
to another time another place
i could smell my mother cooking sunday roast
but i was more interested in what jack and jill
saw up that green and slippery steep hill
or what hansel and gretel would find
in the woods on that day they left their family behind
and how cindarella would find her prince charming
as she tried on her magic shoes at midnight
yes the days grew into nights and i marked the pages
with delight
knowing tomorrow i would read them alone next day
next day i read how
rapunzel let down her golden hair and teased the men with her delight
how i wished to be rapunzel all beautiful with long locks and hair of gold
but here was me in my flannel pyjamas and little white socks and hair
so short my mother never let me grow
here in these rhymes i would become a princess with her prince charming
at the dance with midnight approaching near
here i would be the mother of pinocchio or the wizard of oz’s dorothy
yes i lived in a dream world where reality was eating my lunch only to find
that i was not a princess afterall and had to do the dishes and
toil the weeds from the soil
but at odd times during my free days i could escape to the coloured pictures and etchings
of the fables of the books so kind
my favourite character was of course snow white
there she lay as pale as cold moonlite
waiting for her prince to kiss her cold pale lips
as she lay in the forest after biting from the poison fruit
her wide blue eyes woke
the minute he pressed his handsome mouth on hers
there they went forever happy and
this is how i thought life would be
where is my prince charming here alone sit i
divorced and being a mother of 3
prince charming did not come
my dreams of childhood glee
they were so true and full of life
this is how i thought my future would be
where is my prince charming
where is my golden long locks
i recall the smell of the lying on my lounge floor
on rainy afternoons
with my vegemite sandwich and milk next to me
pondering the books of gables of nursery rhymes
as to how more life would ever be
those days are gone and here i sit with my t v
and my dog for company.
