The Stories Children Tell

 

The stories children tell

Have you ever heard the stories they tell?

With those starry eyes and those impish smiles,

Of raccoons and dragons and time machines,

That gallop and fall and mount again on

Fair unicorns of ingenuity.

Those wee tales that tumble from wishful mouths,

After knocking down the jar of cookies,

Of mice that scurried over the top shelf,

And the burly cat that catapulted

Itself, right out of the funneled chimney.

Have you heard accounts of the threatening

Calls, which the monsters under the bed make?

On days homework refuses to get done,

The songs owls sing, heralding tummy ache.

Do you lend an ear for the sake of

Feigned interest; or do you know these tales

Are keys to childhood lost in ignorance?

The mantra to revive that long lost smile,

The potion to rekindle the doused spark,

Each tale a rainbow with a pot of gold,

On the other side, should we traverse through.