A Poem for Your Inner Child

On a gorgeous fall day last week, a walk in the neighborhood lit my imagination with a poem. Enjoy!

Red Keds scamper the sky—
“Higher, Mommy, higher!”
She swings up, up, up;
volleys of maple leaves
swirl on the fly.

 

Mom trundles her bundle
of giggles and plaid
out the park gate
and down the lane home.

Pumpkin heads
bobble, give crooked
toothed grins, goblins
boo and they scare, graves
heave for a prayer.

“Can I be a princess,
for Halloween?”

Golden ash
leaf
alights on dark curl,
unfurls, another,
one more and again.
“They tickle me, Mom!”

Mom twines a fine crown
of gilt leaves on hair—
“Since the kingdom of trees
agrees, be thee Princess Louise.”

Red Keds
tread the furrow
’tween curb and the street.
Ladies in waiting
rustle their bustles, curtsy
in skirts painted purple,
bright scarlet and lime.

Rickety cricket
nips at her toes,
“Ca’runch, ca’runch,
won’t you dance with me,
dance with me,
Princess Louise?”

Atop a high hill,
her carriage awaits,
a jewel box
of gemstones adrift.
As she tumbles inside
crushed velvet red,

plaid laughter and rubies
ride home on the wind.