Not A Child In Sight

A stitch past nine on borrowed time,

 memories come rushing back

 

The Wolf is feasting in Grandma’s bed,

Red Riding Hood a snack

 

A Cow gets ready to jump again,

but the moon drops from the sky

 

Humpty Dumpty a mess on the floor,

Tweedle-dum starts to cry

 

The candle burns for Jack’s last jump,

a quickening funeral pyre

 

The stepmother screams, Cinderella hides,

her daughter’s dress on fire

 

Little Jack Horner abandons his corner,

curds harden and whey runs aground

 

As Mother Goose watches the Grimm Brothers die

—not a child in sight to be found

 

(Villanova Pennsylvania: April, 2017)