Today’sPoem

CHRISTMAS FAIRY

I’m not the Sugar Plum Fairy, I can’t pirouette or pas de deux, Anyway, I don’t speak the language — But I do know the phrase ‘ Je ne veux’. I’m certainly not the tooth fairy, Though that’s a good job that I’d like. What a joy to give away money To a kid saving up for a bike. I could be a pantomime fairy, I’d relish a-waving my wand. I could banish the ogres and suchlike, Away to the back of beyond. I could be a glittery fairy On a bracelet — a pure silver charm,

But think of the jingling and jangling And the clanking all day on an arm. I could be a fairy at Brownies, Performing good deeds every day, And dancing each week round the toadstool, But by 11, they all fly away. I could be a rotating fairy On a jewel box that plays an old song, But I bet I’d get giddy in no time, And fall, losing all my aplomb. But no — I’m the Christmas tree fairy, Dressed up all in silver and white, And by gosh, it gets hot in the evenings When they switch on the Christmas tree lights.

My perch is a little precarious, I’m right on the top branch, you see, And what with the needles and tinsel, The comfort’s not what it could be. After dark, when I gaze out the window And see all the stars and the Moon, I regret that my time is so short here; I’ll be back in my box all too soon. For two weeks of the year I have freedom, But I can’t become wildly ecstatic. I’m so beautifully dressed and appealing, Yet I spend 50 weeks in the attic.

Una Dowding, Hucclecote, Glos.