NANA PAPA PONY & ME (C)by Kandle Jones
Have you ever seen bullfrog green jump across a Lilly pad?
Did you ever see gold moth bathing in a moonshine bath?
Do you watch as teal raindrops bless and baptize the stream?
Will you hear the wood windmill song it sings each spring?
I walk real close to the sandy coast where Nana and I share things
She told me once always have fun always be true and dream
I recall those days her voice her face I can still see her smile
The dandelions seemed less boring to me a wild city child
Papa came into the house with his muddy blue overalls
His gray mustache seems to shout louder than Pa talks
“The time is close and he is nearly broke come if you want to see
The albino pony being tamed from the only pack of wild ones near the creek”
My eyes grow big and I must admit I love excitement of any kind
So I dropped my book to have a look and ponder the pony so fine
The pony kicks and then it sits as if one final stubborn nerve exists
Then it saw me it started to scream and have all kind of fits
Papa says whew! This one likes you! Why don’t you say hi?
I was really too scared and had never dared to ride a pony or try
But for some reason I had a season of unusual courage to spare
I climbed the fence went straight to him
The pony with ice eyes white hair
As soon as I came close. he let out a little noise
It was as if he had hoped to find comfort in my voice
I didn’t know what to do or how I would earn his faith
But in a minute or two our eyes like glue
Stuck and we became mates
The pony calm was eating from my palm
And I feel a new esteem
Instead breaking the pony in
I feel he broke into me
Each day the boredom was swept away
By my pony friend indeed
I would feed him little treats change his hay
And he fed me spiritually
The pony still was a little strong willed
So no one was allowed
To ride him or take him anywhere
That was too far from the house
So times were slow even so the pony and I would play
He could do tricks and even dance a bit
If I ask him a certain way
Well one fine day Nana is baking a cake
And it smells like lemon lime
Nana has...this funny laugh
That she did only for Papa sometimes
Papa holds his nose telling a joke
About someone else passing gas
Nana says to pop you really need to stop
And then she turns around fast
She looks at the cake and her eyes seem to say
She forgot what to do
“Papa” she says “Am I loose in the head,
When did I make a cake and for who?”
Papa says “well it is for our church fair
And you baked it just today
Do you feel well? Should we get the doctor to help?
He is only a call away.”
Nana says no but we feel she is slowly
Forgetting little things
But Nana is not sour she is a flower
Of love and creativity
So Nana ask me to help her sometimes
Remember where things go
Waffle sandwiches instead of bread
Cheese put in the toaster for toast
When my mom and dad called
To check how my summer is we talk
I tell them about my new pony friend
And that Nana’s is acting rather odd
Mother sighs and tries to hide
Concern she says “Dad will talk now.”
Father then takes the phone and
I know something’s wrong his voice is a cloud
“This may be your best summer
And it may do you good to know
That Nana may forget some things
But she will always love you most”
His voice trails away and I am afraid
He will say Nana is dying
So I say “I have to go to the toilet. No
I don’t want to come back to the city.”
Days go slow and we watch rainbows
Dance in the ribbons of sky
And after the fair we all pick pears
And watch fireworks 4th of July
I help on the farm and I fetch Nana’s yarn,
As she likes to knit and sew
This particular day the kittens were in her way
Nana tripped and broke her toe
She could not call out my name
So she did just shout
I know she was in terrible pain
Because she was so loud
Nana’s foot begins to bleed
And I know it is too much blood
So I get some ice and then I try
To get papa on his cell in the truck
Well it seems somehow the signal is down
And no phones work at all
I am so worried and so I hurry
To try to get to a neighbor I walk
When I get to the farm I am alarmed
Old man Martin is not there but I search
A note says they all went to the fair
And then to the cookout at the church
I go back and find papa in a match with a rabid dog
Papa has won but the sun of a gun bit papa’s finger off
So I run inside and Nana is lying
On the floor passed out
Pop is outside with a womb in his side
His right hand nearly lost
Papa gives me the keys and said to me
“Boy drive for help!”
I have no luck when I get to the truck
There is a flat tire with no spare
My stomach falls and I hear Nana call
So like lightening I run to her
You must go to the stall the Angels talk
She says “I hear their words”
I find again my very best friend
Who seems to watch for me
“I need you boy only you and the Lord
Can help us right now so please”
Pony bends and I get on him
Like the wind he rides to town
I find the nurse who was at church
And she calls others around
Pretty soon Papa’s farm is consumed
With medics, police in no time
A strange thing happens to me
I feel the wind and see a brown butterfly
My pony sings with his hoofs to me
And I feel like Nana just died
No one believes what Nana told me
Was real that she heard Angels talk
Because Nana had Alzheimer’s disease
They say her memory was off
But even today if I go that way
I hear those bull frogs and the stream
I know Nana may have lost some memories
But I find her in everything.
Nana is the lemon lime cake I ate
Even if it is now store bought
Nana is in the collard greens and corn bread
I just finished off
Nana is the little breath of wind
That blows my cares away
And Nana is that brightest star that smiles
When to the night sky I pray.
So that summer I lost and found things
I would never willingly give up
Nana and kittens and Papa getting bitten
A pony and farm full of love.
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