Fairyland

A Poem

Illustration created by Midjourney

---

Fairyland

---

His mom groaned and said, “It’s just fairyland.”
But his dreams were like nothing on earth.
And he thought as he felt his life ebbing away
Of that place he had known since his birth.

He recalled how the fairy-folk danced fully clothed
’neath a honeyed light strained through a sieve. 
Is nakedness evil? Are birthday suits bad? 
He pondered such things as a kid.

But later he grieved for the wrongs he had done,
For the friends he had hurt or had lost.
And the fairies would nod in agreement and sigh,
As the flowers grew brittle with frost.

He would sit playing cards with his wife who had died,
And they’d speak of the children they’d reared.
And he’d dandle his grandkids on one denimed knee,
And he’d laugh as they tugged at his beard.

But the faces of those he was certain he knew
Were no longer the faces he’d known.
And the smiling young girl in the wind-ruffled wheat
Looked so sad as she stood there alone.

When he asked of the fairies if he’d wasted his life,
If he’d screwed up and squandered his chance,
They softly said “no” as they led from the field,
The young maiden he’d met at the dance.

But as he got older he seldom went back,
Till the day he went back there no more,
And his children in dreams heard the fairy-folk wail,
As the little boy walked out the door. 

Illustration created by Midjourney

---