A Poem
A foolish girl did spent a day
To try and lock her heart away;
A starling oak with Queen Anne’s lace
Was sure to be a likely place.
At once she hastened to be rid of it,
Alas! She found it would not fit.
That bit of soul; though diamond-made
Could not be still on this crusade.
Altered not, she still meant to shove
Away that gentle treasure, the birth of love.
“I know inside a plum I’ll find
A bed of silk to leave behind
My heart,” she said, and smiled at that;
And did not see the little rat,
Smartly dressed in a buttoned coat,
Pinned with a ruby at his throat.
He could not fight the rosy lure
Of honeyed plum, sweet and pure.
The little girl did not despair
Of never finding places where
Her wild eye could find a cove
Of darkened secret in which she wove
A golden nest, a simple crown
And there she lay her burden down.
Now there came the brightest light,
It pierced the sky; she stared in fright.
A voice did come, both quiet and fair,
That carried love across the air:
“Oh child Mine, be still and see
Your dearest heart belongs to me.
I’ll take the charge of guarding it,
and ne'er will I have cause to permit
the damage of its crimson head,”
a promise rang with what He said.
The little girl was plain aware
That now her heart was in great care.
She had no ugly thoughts to keep,
And flew on wings of glimmered sleep.
-- Michael Marie Hall