Jungle Magic
My favourite childhood book was lost long ago,
But the story’s vivid images are painted on my mind,
And as I turn the pages of my memory I see -
Waterfalls tumbling from high rocky ledges,
Splashing silver stars into the stream’s whirling pool below,
Monkeys leaping from tree to tree, engaging in daily chatter,
Gnomes, goblins and elves hiding beneath huge leafy canopies -
(No doubt planning a mischievous fate for intruders),
Spiders as large as saucers, swinging precariously on jewelled webs,
Myriad white butterflies with diaphanous wings,
fluttering everywhere
Like snowflakes -
And the whole jungle drips with rain.
Do children of today believe magic still exists -
Apart from the kind found in Harry Potter movies?
I suppose gnomes are way out of fashion,
Except perhaps those standing in nurseries and
gardens -
Unhappily mute in their stone images,
And as for elves and goblins - they are not “cool”,
But vampires, blood and death, are in favour -
What a sad, troubled world we now live in!
© June Maureen Hitchcock
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