In Pursuit of Poetry

March 13 - Mary M. Cushnie - As A Child

March 13, 2018
This poem is by Mary M. Cushnie from her book Picking Up The Pieces: A Collection of Poems. This poem is near the end of the book and I felt it resonate with me.

As A Child

As a child
I'd escape to my secret place
To my never world
Where no one else could venture
Without permission --
My permission
It was the world where
Fairies flitted through the branches
Of mystical forests
Where unicorns waved their horns
Spreading their magic
Throughout the land
Where bunnies spoke and
Had huge family reunions
Where dogs and cats
Romped together happily in the fields
Where cowboys and Indians
Parlayed peacefully around campfires
Where I rode upon a mighty black stallion
Across desert sands
The wind whipping his mane
And my long hair into a magic carpet
That would sail me to other worlds
Other than my own
Worlds that would immerse me in a
Pool of love
Surround me with the arms of
Courage and strength
Enabling me to become
The Warrior Queen
Who would justly rule the world
Eliminating all the
Evil and wrongdoings
Implementing
Peace and goodwill to all mankind

As a child
I'd escape to my secret world
The place
Where I, the adult
Can now go

Yes
It was my secret place
Held within the ink of my pen
Waiting
To one day
Be spilled upon my pages
Waiting to record
All the magic
That did
And didn't
Happen

This secret world for me was my imagination. It may have grown out of my experiences and from what I read, but as a child it was real and a necessary place because the real world was scary. The real world was cruel and unfair and I felt too small to fight back. This secret place grew in me and sustained me through the worst of those years and I am grateful for that.

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