Peter came at half-past three,
Tapping sharply from an apple tree.
“Wendy, Michael, and John, too—
Come and fly; the stars want you.”
Out of the window, hand in hand,
The trio swept above the land.
Their mother's sobs fell away behind.
Another bedtime story she can't unwind.
In Neverland, the sky can't change.
The moon is weird, the sun is strange.
No one grows, and no one there cries—
Every ache for going home soon dies.
Boys and girls forget their names.
Their socks, friends and favorite games.
A mother’s hug, a father’s last song—
Memories dim when you stay too long.
Peter laughs and flies high in midair,
But something empty lingers there.
He doesn’t know what he has lost—
Never growing up, comes at a cost.
Wendy whispered, “We must go!".
"For I've lost my shadow.”
Peter waved and turned away—
Still chasing ghosts of yesterday.
So if you hear a tap-tap one night,
Find your window bathed in light,
Roll over, hide, and stay in bed—
Forget Neverland, sleep on instead.
Form: Other
Alice held flowers in her hand,
So huge were they, 'twas tough to stand,
She collected them all herself,
The bouquet was for her bookshelf,
Walking with them proved so tricky,
Her hands hurt and they were sticky,
She didn't see where she was going,
Her steps they were slowly slowing,
Peter Pan saw her and he smiled,
He knew how to get her all riled,
He bumped into Alice, she fell,
A shower of flowers and well,
Alice, with Peter was angry,
Asked him to pick 'em up for free,
Peter Pan did as told by her,
For he was scared of her anger,
He went till her house holding them,
My, they were huge with their big stem,
Alice was happy, her job done,
She hugged Peter and made him run.
Picture #2
Form: Rhyme
I remember that I once called him Peter Pan
The man I loved, and yet a child at heart to me
A name that became vividly more portending
at pretending than I ever could've imagined.
A lost boy I found long ago, or did he find me?
No need for Tinkerbelle's pixie dust because
he flew with me as his Darling,* to quell his sadness
but in taking it from him, I began losing myself.
He tried to escape his nemesis, the Captain's hook,
but too many walks along the pirate ship's plank
proved to be a daunting task he kept undertaking.
I kept trying to rescue him but he wouldn't swim.
He was drifting far out to sea; drowning in the drink.
I called his name but no sight of him was I able to see.
Peter Pan was lost again, and this time also to me.
Never Never Land is a place I won't be visiting again.
*Wendy Darling
Form: Free verse
Curtains flutter over the nursery sill,
Waiting for their mother to find
The coverlet tossed aside, hanging still,
Patiently expecting mother to right the spill,
The beds, empty, the windows, the open kind;
Stars twinkle, restlessly above,
for their mother to kiss them goodnight,
As a girl sits alone, tickled by lilac and foxglove,
Without her darling boys like a solitary dove,
Thinking of a nursery far from the starlight,
The empty nursery, soon to be found,
Soon to be an empty treasure chest,
Without the starlings, lost, dead, drowned,
Their pied piper a rooster with a crown,
Who flew them away from the nest,
The darling mother ought not to cry,
The lost little girl should wipe away her tear,
And never run. But fly
For life will say with a sigh
And what is lost is always near.
Form: Cinquain
Once upon a December we were friends.
Once upon a cold night holding onto a time we knew someday would end.
A whole new world we’ll never see.
You're stuck drowning under the sea, after letting go of my hand because you wanted to be free.
Lost in the jungle like a lost little boy.
Running around like a living toy.
All your hope was left out in the rain, which left you mad but not insane.
The pirates of life struck you with so much fear, sometimes all you can do is let down your hair.
Save yourself from the castle when no prince is near.
Sometimes you need to stand up and be brave, try to fix your own mistakes.
Dragons, bears and tea parties for two.
Wicked witches flying on brooms.
Off to Neverland for me, because growing up is what broke our family.
Form: Free verse
Hand in hand two sprites on a magic flight
with wings of crystal glass and fairy light
they flew, inside an abstract sky of white
wing to wing, one was nimble one was bright
Wearing taffet gowns of silky swishes
they were often flourishing their wishes
blessing all with benign hugs and squishes
tiny pixies, no bigger than mom's dishes
They were sent to baby rooms and wee ones
they shone like light from fifty golden suns
but every now and then they goofed all thumbs
and landed in a cabbage patch, oh crumbs !
they flew like Peter Pan and Tinker Bell
with magic wands to cast a spell, pell-mell
they scurried this way that and then oh well
they crazed it up and then they cast a spell.
Feb 26, 2023
Sponsor Eve Roper
Contest Name Nursery Rhyme
Form: Rhyme
I woke up at three a.m.
Some call it the witching hour.
I call it the imagination hour.
I felt like something was happening, so I looked outside.
Saw Peter Pan and Wendy heading to the second star to the right.
“Straight on ‘til morning” a voice said in my head.
It was more than enough to make my night fabulous!
Form: Light Verse
I will never grow up!
Me either! I scream with delight.
You can’t make me go to school!
Now we have a differing opinion.
Because I go to school every day
So, I can be around others who never want to grow up
And I am not talking about the children.
Form: Free verse
A fisherman hooked him a croc
inside it was a ticking clock
The fisherman took out a jar
of Peter Pan,* said - 'Here you are'
The croc did thank the fisherman
as they sailed the sea to 'Never-Land'
________________________________
*Peanut Butter, of course...
Form: Light Verse
“It’s very good to meet you,
You look younger than expected,
But guess that’s always likely,
When your status is protected?”
“Yes it’s good to meet you,
Of course I seem just a pup,
I’m bound to look a youngster,
Cos I never will grow up!”
“I heard that you can fly as well?
Is that line really true?”
“Yes I can fly at night-time,
Come back and I will show you.”
“I heard you come from neverland,
A strange name for a place?
Does no-one who lives there grow up?
If ancestors we trace?”
“You have a friend called tinkerbell?
A fairy? Are they real?
My readers all would love to know,
What secrets you’ll reveal”.
“Yes, Tinkerbell is lovely,
And a very special friend,
And all the things you heard are true,
It’s not just play pretend”
“I interviewed a Wendy,
She had lots of tales to tell,
She mentioned some boys that were lost,
A Captain Hook as well?”
“She said he wants to get you back,
For what you did before”,
“You know a lot about me,
Not sure I can say much more”.
“I needed confirmation,
Of the things that Wendy said,
So now I’ve heard it all is true,
We can all feel safe in bed”!
(Peter Pan by JM Barrie)
Form: Rhyme
Why can’t he get away from that mirror? Miss Piggy wondered.
He seemed to be fixated on it like a show horse encumbered.
The magic mirror was for her to primp and preen, was it not?
Are you finished there? She asked, her kindest voice a big thought.
Peter turned away and gave her a flash of his prettiest face.
I have to find my shadow, he told her, to show to my grace.
I am your grace, aren’t I? Miss Piggy asked with her prettiest pout.
Just then they were interrupted by Captain Hook’s loudest shout!
Crocodile! Hook screamed with the voice of a shrill girl on speed.
Pan looked out and said “Of course he also brought Sneed.”
She took advantage and began to throw her boa around in the mirror.
“Tell those idiots they are not allowed to barge right in here!”
Peter took her in his arms and gave her a loud smacking friendly kiss.
You will be the death of my adventures, you gorgeous pink miss.
She was pleased, placated, joyful for about six seconds or less.
But then he took over the mirror, ruining her short lived happiness.
Form: Rhyme
Peter Pan Comes Visiting
How well I know Peter.
He comes over now and then;
Entertains my children far better than I
They love to see him, pine for his wild laugh
In the gap times between visits.
Known him since Kindergarden,
Then as now a golden-haired Forever Boy
Eyes of ice blue always seeming to be looking
Into some babe fresh world nobody else could see.
When the children have crashed into bed,
Worn to exhaustion from excess of joys,
We sit and trade lies, pretending
It's Never Too Late; Lots of Time to Grow Up
Ignoring the steady disappearance of his golden locks
As my own shine silver.
He's eluded the adulthood that's claimed us all
But knows it steals upon him yet,
A little closer every year
The tread of time relentless
As the turning of this little Earth.
A favorite friend is becoming
A strange fear that grows and grows,
Every day the kids get a little heavier, reminding me
That sometime soon this last Lost Boy
Will fly to my door one last time
On a carrion wind
And stand there, all out of Happy Thoughts
And beg me to take him in.
Form: Free verse
The stars look pretty from down here,
Lying on my side.
This chicken doesn't want to hold me,
I'm too heavy for playground rides.
I'm not a child anymore.
At least I try.
Especially
After Strawberry Daiquiris.
Form: Couplet
Famous garb of tighty-tights
In flying high a child delights
To never have a crappy day
He smiles and floats and flies away
Propensity to lie ingrained
From that moment mind constrained
If only we could fly again
The smile would surely follow
Old and tested never tried
Life a disappointing ride
Until the day that I decide
To be like Peter Pan
Form: Rhyme
If I had to choose Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe or Peter Pan?
Hmm……
What a quandary.
What a plight.
I truly do not think I can.
I will never grow up, so I have the Peter Pan part down, furiously.
I have always yearned for my own island, and a giant tree house, curiously.
Wouldn’t I love to steal from the rich who have already stolen from the poor?
This choice cannot be done. I need a part of all of them, forever more.
Form: Free verse
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