describes magic and innocence of childhood |
Inspired by a Line by Edna St. Vincent Millay Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies – where half-asleep children lie in wait for the sound of the fairy who takes little reminders that they are no longer babies, these shooting stalks stretching pudgy arms into the air, reaching with fists greedily open, ready to grab the stars out of the night to keep in a jar, study, and release. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies – and nobody lies, and the little ones don’t think to escape, they just do it – strolling down Sesame Street, they take the tiny trolley to the Land of Make Believe. They stage elaborate productions in living rooms, incorporate the antiques in their plays, dragging adults away from the bills, and the cooking of supper, until the performance ends and small feet run bare into backyards where little voices argue over super powers. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies – everything is cured easily with cotton-candy pink amoxicillin, eardrops, children’s Tylenol, a chewy cherry dinosaur packed with a days worth of vital vitamins. Childhood is the kingdom where nobody dies – where little ears listen for reindeer hooves on the roof and small hands arrange milk and cookies on a platter for the “jolly old elf,” where teeth are precious and baskets are filled with candy, not fruit or cheese or wine. Flowers wilt, their petals dropping on top of each other, but there is safety in the knowledge that they will bloom again. The goldfish trades fishbowl for toilet bowl but is replaced the same day. Black is a color not yet known. |