childhood

Said Grandpa Mann sternly to the little Gillyflower

There was a little girl who had a little curl

Right in the middle of her forehead

When she was good she was very very good

But when she was naughty she was horrid

And he pulled a while ball from his ear

She laughter and went to bed

And in the church bell chiming darkness

She dreamt she was a flower in the sky

A fairy who could fly

The princess in the stories, a ballet dancer

A pianist, a horse, a teacher

A reciter of poetry, a commander of a spaceship

A mother, grown up

And later

When her father's grandson was a child

He found each night under his pillow

While chocolate

Grandpa's dreaming food