Mirror Image.
Looking in the mirror,
What do I see?
A very magnificent
Image of me!
Do others see me
Just like that,
Or do they see
A ginger cat?
I wish folk looked
Beyond the fur,
The very gentle
Kitty purr,
And see
The lionheart In me,
The part my human
Always sees!
Notes:
Beauty and bravery are much more than skin deep!
The poem encourages us not to be too quick to judge others, but to get to know them and appreciate the qualities that make them unique.
The people who love us are generally the ones who see our best qualities and try to help us develop them the more.
Activity:
Write a list of things that might not look particularly attractive but which have qualities we might really appreciate. Example – cocoa bean which is used to make chocolate.
Cat Trick
My cat liked to climb on my bedroom chair,
Right next to my chest of drawers.
He would spring to the chest with a mighty leap
Where he landed on all fours.
There on the top, where a mirror stood,
He looked at me, as a winner would
While he smugly licked his paws.
This was a trick he’d performed before,
So I did what I had to do:
I’d found a shot of a lion’s head,
On a leaflet from the zoo.
I shaped it into the mirror’s frame:
One look would scare him and end his game,
He’d be off to his cat-a-loo!
I watched to see if he’d turn his head
And he’d face what was waiting there.
To see him jump promised such a treat:
The suspense would be hard to bear!
Then he turned. I could not believe my eyes:
He showed not a hint of the least surprise;
Not a bit did he seem to care.
Then as I was watching he lifted a paw
As if to greet someone he knew.
Was it his grandpa he thought that he saw?
Was he wondering just what he should do?
But stroking the lion, he shredded its face!
This meant his smug self soon appeared in its place,
As he thought: “I’m much smarter than you
Rain Storm
The heavens opened,
And down it poured,
It was so loud,
It almost roared.
Big droplets of rain,
Bounced off the street,
Into the gutter,
And onto concrete.
It pelted the cars,
Watered the lawn,
Battered the gardens,
An almighty storm.
When it was over,
The rain having ceased,
There were puddles of water,
As deep as my feet
Fisherman’s Daughter by J.R.McRae
The fisherman’s daughter, she dances the fish!
She dances the fish in their silvery gowns
All the way over,
All the way down,
“Come quickly, my pretties,
Come sliver-fire flash!
Show me your colours,
Leap high, wide and splash
Down into the fish-trap my father has set!”
The fisherman’s daughter
Weaves them a dance,
They follow her leading
Without backward glance.
She dances, she dances,
They leap and they dive
Mercurial lances,
That shoot the wave live!
She dances, she dances,
The foam horses prance
Down the long waves
Racing fish to the shore!
Wave horses turn,
But the fish can no more.
She dances, she dances,
They follow entranced,
One after the other
They tumble and fall,
Flipping and thrashing
Held fast in her thrall!
Into the fish snare,
One after the other,
Unthinking, unblinking,
Their numbers enmesh,
Caught fast,
A seething turmoil
Of writhing flesh!
She laughs and claps
As the men draw the nets.
Her father smiles
But her fate is set,
For the deep sea demon saw and heard,
Reached out
And swept her
Away to the deeps
And there he has kept her.
Alone on the cliff-top ,
A lone figure weeps…
J.R.McRae’s writes award-winning poetry/haiku [Blood and Other Essentials… poetry collection out soon], novels [Free Passage, Cats’ Eyes] & short stories. Included in Quadrant Book of Poetry, 2000-2010, Basics of Life [ALR Anthology], Trust and Treachery, Colours of Refuge, Antipodes, Social Alternatives. Artwork/photography features in Musings: A Mosaic, Best of Vine Leaves, Prints Rhyming Anthology. As J.R.Poulter, she writes award-winning children’s books and heads Word Wings Books. Websites: http://www.jrmcrae_subversive.weebly.com, http://www.jenniferrpoulter.weebly.com/ www.wordwings.wix.com/publishing
“Darling, here’s some broccoli
And spinach soup for tea:
With garlic, chopped potato
And a stick of celery.”
“Mum, I’d really much prefer
A juicy t-bone steak!
And don’t forget my veggies
Roasted in a carrot cake!”
Nature’s Monuments
“The fire came through in ‘sixty four,” the wizened farmer said.
“At first it headed for the house, but turned this way instead.
The plain back then was thick with trees,
Their drought-dry leaves caught fire with ease
And all too soon each tree became
Fresh fuel for a fearsome flame!”
He paused as memory’s embers glowed and then he spoke again.
“That lifeless pair seen over there are all that now remain.
Since, at the time, more fires were feared,
The land round here was promptly cleared,
But those two trees remind us all
That here once stood a forest tall.”
Australian Children’s Poetry 