When I was a girl in the forest
There were no rich or poor.
Only kids and a hill to climb.
When I was a girl in the forest
It wasn’t just black or white.
The blending of hues was unending, and all of the colors mattered.
When I was a girl in the forest
We knew not of vanity fare.
We crowned our hair in Queen Ann’s Lace, and waited for Peter Pan.
When I was a girl in the forest
There was neither the gifted nor slow.
We all could decipher the songbird’s reprise.
”You are loved,” she would sing. “You are love.”
Then one day I left my enchantment (At 11 or 12 or so).
My music-box meadow stood witness
As Captain Hook mocked my demise.
When I was a girl in the city
I left behind innocent eyes,
Eyes that had helped me see clearly.
I’d left behind Robin Hood heroes
For name brands and mirrors of sand
As I blindly conformed to the streets.
When I was a girl in the city,
I joined other penny-loafed preps
In a mold I could never get into
To become what I’d often regret.
So foolish to live in the city
Where labels defined the wild rose,
But its maze was simply a passage
Papered by colors I chose.
When I was a girl in the city,
I met a lad I’d always known.
We fashioned our own little haven....
Yet, so far from home.
Our children would tell of the songbird,
And oh, how I wished I could hear.
Yet vague premonitions kept taunting.
Though I’m still a girl in the city
I thrive on that vague rhapsody
‘Bout a kid in a forested refuge,
A kid who’s still waiting for me.
And someday, I pray, in contrition,
While strolling my ancient exchange,
I’ll savor, in wheel-chaired seclusion,
Those pine-scented woodlands again.
Jody Walker