A Child's Other World

Sometimes…I still try hard to dwell in the land of mind traveling.

That’s where I hid as a child
Up a tree…under the bed…in the closet.
With blushing heroines…
Splendid knights.

My world was innocent and safe
Contained within the covers of the books
Who were my best friends.
I was never alone.

When I had to come out and face
My mother’s world…school…neighbors.
I was always “blinking” as though
The light was too bright …too harsh.

I never saw those people very well.
They were not as real to me
As characters in the books who remained
Unchanging…good ….brave.

I learned values from them…
Those book friends of mine!
How we should treat one another.
The possibility life could be different in the future.

I was too little then’…but “someday”
A word I learned from my mother…
Kept hope going in those days.
When…realities were a challenge.

Somehow…those friends in the books
Always found a way to solve dilemmas …save the day


Wearing your mother’s shoes to school
Wondering if the kids will laugh.
I skipped school…hid out in the foothills
Played at being my favorite characters.

Magic combined with goodness of heart always prevailed.

Out of coal…
We burned newspapers and wondered about
…when they were all gone….
“I was the Little Match Girl”.

Out of money…
We collected pop bottles
Sometimes….we stole them.
I was Oliver Twist

Out of food…
We ate pancakes and Indian fried bread.
Found blackberries by the creek;
I was an Indian who just whipped Custer.

Was it the books that kept pride going during those days?

Christmas Day on Navy Beans
Was better than the Salvation Army Baskets…
That shamed us before our neighbors.

Had I not read “Little Women”…would I have
Given my only Christmas present to my little sister?
She was too young to understand “no presents”.

I’m grown up…but life is no different.
What do I still find myself doing?….
Escaping to the world of books!

City Libraries and College Campuses
have made “Someday” a reality!
I thank the writers and tax payers!