I remember
Being so young of age I could count
My years on one of my hands
My teacher was gone for the day
So we joined our classmates next door
My teacher was gone
My safety net for a day
I counted the minutes tick by
I ran out of fingers
And then
I ran
Out of hands.
Don’t ask what my mother did with our hair, but there you go, I was all of six once and a flower girl at my aunt’s wedding.
In response to The Daily Post’s writing prompt: “Toy Story.”
My favorite toy was a doll my maternal grandmother sent to me from Cape Town. It arrived in a box complete with knitted clothes and bonnet. In Afrikaans they have a lovely word for bonnet – “koppie kappie”. Which directly translated reads a small head covering. It is one of a few items I have kept from my childhood. She is now under my daughter’s protective care.
There is a little musical box embedded into her at the back. A tiny record fitted into it and would play some music. One day the neighborhood boys grabbed my doll and ripped the record out. I remember two of their names. Ryan and Brendan. You have been shamed! I must have been five or younger, as we were living in a house and after that we moved to an apartment. I was five when I broke my collarbone and that happened when I was in the apartment.
A form of honesty
Never did any harm
I’ve always been taught,
So given the chance
To look back at all the things
I’ve said and done
A bit of eccentricity
Comes to the fore
I was tempted to write
About a close relative of mine
Who passed away so many years ago
Until I started myself thinking
About all the things
I’ve been heard to say
I’ve been asked by mouths of babes
“Why do I do things I do?”
When wrapped in my own little world –
Talking aloud to only me
(Or even setting the midnight alarm
To arise and pen a daily post
Proving a level of eccentricity
I’m sure anyone would agree
“You do what?”
Yeah it’s true, I set the alarm
Because the daily post needs to be responded to
And one entry needs to be from me)
I found out the other day
When I spoke quite triumphantly
About my book – what a surprise
This has turned out to be
Because when I was but a child
I was held back from starting school
A ‘special school’ was suggested quite highly
I ended up attending a mainstream one
But at least I now have an answer
When it is at oftentimes asked –
For when I do the strangest things
That would send a husband under the desk
“What planet would you be from –
When you do the things you do”
My answer now can be
My planet is Vonita
And if this you do not believe
Visit my online blog and home
Passion through Poetry
movingtowardsthelight – VIVA
I am the author
Every word is mine
And not only that
My book is written
It has been written by me!
(Thanking Oscar and Tim for their contributions too!)
Poems and Petals 