Anne Pollock

Sleighing through the forest
On a late December evening,
To my sister tightly clinging
In our flying wintry bed.

Father briskly leading
The pampered horses heaving,
Beneath the heavens reeling
Round the pole star we are led.

Faster, ever faster
O'er the crunching, steely ice,
Tucked in warm and cozy
Like some picture postcard mice.

The mighty forest bows before us
Beneath its weight in snow,
A shimmering palace of ice crystals
Bathed in moonlight's glow.

Wind ascending,
Sleep descending,
As homeward bound we go.

Shiver me timbers, rattle me bones.
It's All Hallows' Eve, and I'm on me way home;
Home to me wifey, me Katy, me best--
Been three hundred years since they laid us to rest.

Through bolted door I'll slither,
One night alone I'll stay;
Though shrieking mortals scatter,
Naught shall bar the way.

Sure I am to find her as in the bygone days,
Knitting me tatters and mending me frays;
Rocking and turning a pale, toothy grin
To greet her dear Johnny and welcome me in.

Loosed from the grave to become the walking dead,
We'll toast our health with a bottle of red;
Then taunt our hosts with stories retold
Of the good old days before we grew mold.

Haunting the house we once called home,
One night of the year with Katy, me own;
Teasing and carousing 'til the crack of dawn
When I lose her again to the black beyond.

Do you know where fairies live?
To see just one, I'd gladly give
The moon and stars and galaxies
That sail above the summer breeze.
Kindly sir, pray do tell,
Do you know where fairies dwell?

Little friend, you look too far.
Can't you see they're where you are,
Tending flowers like busy bees,
Standing smaller than your knees?
You must see them just like I
When you bid your doubts goodbye.

Gentle sir, when I was small,
I climbed above your garden wall.
And there to my surprise and joy,
Stood a little winged boy.
He winked at me and flew away
Into the myth of yesterday.

But you were just a child then
Before you ripened into ten.
And as you grew up, you were taught
What is real and what is not.
But trust your heart; you can unlearn.
Believe in fairies and they'll return!