OH TWICE UPON A TIME...A SHORT SHORT TIME AGO!

Oh we ran & we ran &
hid ourselves in the barn

you with your beautiful
black river of hair

that freely flowed
down the course of your back

but now streamed out
behind you in the air

like a great banner
of fear.


We hid
amongst sacks of seed-oats and tears.

“It’s not fair...it’s not fair! ”

your crying trickled
over dirt-smeared cheeks

hiding ourselves
deeper amongst the whinnies & dreams

of our plough horse Dolly
a colossus this near us

half afraid of being
trampled by her innocence

lost in the animal
smell of her.

Aunt Nellie
jealous

of the tumbling torrent
of your hair

its cascade
of curls

telling us she would fetch
(like a spell)  
the police & tell

(“*****....witch! ”)  
we counter-spelled

them to hold you down
as she sheared off


(the cackle of her laughter
setting fire to the air)  

the crash of waves
over your shoulder.

I clutched your arm
and ran

blind tears
both of us

into the wind’s
comforting arms

vowing no one
would ever touch

the magic
of its flowing.

Her words
screaching after us

her voice
a hawk of the air

us two
scurrying little mice

frighten by the shadow
of her calling

devouring our names
in their saying.

Her evil
made all the more real

by the chance
courtesy call

of the local police
the deadly gleams of shiny size elevenzies

we watching
in mortal terror

through stable chinks
trapped in a cage of sunlight spears

from our jail
of tears

as if we were
about to be

burned at the stake.

The flames
of our fear

already licking us
with its horror.

Us Hansel & Gretel’d
as any fairy tale

terrified amongst
the bric-a-brac

of horse
& plough

lost amongst harrow...coulter...& straddle
double-tree...check-reins...& mandril

sneaking into bed
only when the sun set


Aldebaran

the eye of the bull
in the constellation Taurus

smiling down
on us

and the innocence
of our ignorance.