Fairies and Other Good Stuff

When I was a little girl, my Grandma Joye and I would sit on the front porch of her Craftsman style house and make up stories about fairies together.  Under the sweeping mimosa trees, we’d build fairy houses of twigs, shells from fallen nuts and acorns, bark, moss, grass and flowers to make sure the fairies would stop at her house for the night.  We chased fireflies and marveled at the flowers on her four o’clocks.

One of my cherished possessions is a handwritten copy of her poem Fairies and Other Good Stuff written in a blue ballpoint pen with drawings of fairies all over it.  On the days I miss her the most, I pull it out and think of those warm summer nights on the porch swing surrounded by fire-blinks and fairies.

When everyone is out of sight,

Or sound asleep, I stay at night

And think about some special tot,

Remembering things we liked a lot.

And in my thoughts again we’re found

Out on the porch swing or uptown

Where at the park, through nook and cranny,

You lead a huffing-puffity Granny!

Some busy folks don’t understand

About the good things right at hand

To please a child to sight or touch –

And please a Grandma twice as much.

They’re funny when they make a fuss

And call our best fun ludicrous

(Ludicrous means strange, you see,

Which can’t apply to you and me!)

For we are serious when we think

Of Penny Peacock, a fire-blink,

Or Rosie Rabbit’s powers to keep

The children safe in a forest deep.

They shouldn’t scoff for we are sure

That fairies are and always were,

(A few of us, if the time we took,

Could show them where, if they’d really look!)

In the evening late when the sun is set

And all the dark has not come yet,

While grass is warm before the dew,

There’s a fairy place I’ve shown to you,

Where little fire-flies wink and blink –

You think they’re here and then they wink

Away off in another place,

Or sometimes right up in your face!

Then in a circle, sparkling bright,

Fairy wings light up the night,

They turn and swirl and fly so free

In a rainbow dance for you and me!

On tiny, silky wings they glide

First all alone, then side by side

Around the fairy-queen, who’ll swish

A magic wand for a rainbow wish.

It’s sad that some folks never see

The beauty shown to you and me

So we’ll just soak it up and then

Shine it back out all over them!!

-Joye Kanelakos

‘Til next time,

Jessica