a little girl has grown
without a mum to guide her
she was left to play alone.
Bullied by the boys at school
she couldn’t help but weep
her daddy did his very best
and rocked the girl to sleep.
When she was only seven years
she saw a poster for
a martial artists teaching group;
there wasn’t one before.
Her Aunty Julie took her there
on a Tuesday night:
within a year she had no fear
and never shirked a fight.
A black belt by the age of twelve
a terror with the stave
now all the boys are extra-good
and never misbehave.
11 comments:
I just love coming here and reading your delightful poems. Dark and humorous and sometimes with a fantastic message, such as this one! Great Rachel. You also have a certain Britishness that I loved in a book I used to have as a child called 'Cautionary Tales' and it remains one of my favorite childhood memories. You bring that back when I read your work. Happy Valentine's Day!
Thank you Cat :)
Do you recall the author of Cautionary Tales? Was it Edward Gorey, a man I admire?
Poem and pic in perfect harmony.Love both.
Your words make it easy to imagine the determination on the little redhead's face as she learned to defend herself. :0)
Thank you both :)
I would have been Lucy in a different life.
Actually, I still have the book! It's called Cautionary Verses, my mistake, and the author is Hilaire Belloc. Published by Alfred A. Knopf 1962. Opposite the title page is this verse:
Child! do not throw this book about;
Refrain from the unholy pleasure
Of cutting all the pictures out!
Preserve it as your chiefest treasure.
Child, have you never heard it said
That you are heir to all the ages?
Why, then your hands were never made
To tear these beautiful thick pages!
Your little hands were made to take
The better things and leave the worse ones.
They also may be used to shake
The massive paws of elder persons.
And when your prayers complete the day
Darling, your little tiny hands
Were also made, I think, to pray
For men that lose their fairylands.
___
And it's full of stories of little girls dying in fires and little boys being eaten by lions and all kinds of fun stuff.
Oh Cat, what a fabulous poem. Thank you so much for looking it us and telling me. I'm going to have to find a copy now!
First proper laugh of this morning - thank you.
Glad to oblige, Quink :)
Thanks for stopping by!
I love Lucy! Good for her and a super painting. I love the Hilaire Belloc poem above too. More books, Rach? lol.
Ah1 It arrived today - Not more books, but 'research materials'
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