Carousel Horses

When carousel horses

Come to life

You dream

You live a child's imagination

Fleeing adult captivity

Freeing possibility

To where anything can be.

My Mother rides

Round and round

Upon her ivory steed

Never stopping

A distant memory recounted

But if you ask her

Where she's gone

She cannot remember

It was some time ago

When pages turned

And stories told

Were all the rage

A child could know

Now cobwebs form

And dust settles from a storm

Like snowflakes on the lawn.

When carousel horses

Come to life

You dream

You live a child's imagination

Fleeing adult captivity

Freeing possibility

To where anything can be.

Sleeping, sleeping

Another world awakens

carousel horses sing

Their whinnying pronounces

A holiday from the king

"Go and roam

No pasture fences

To keep us in

Freedom, freedom

From within!"

And Mother's face cringes

Her curiosity turned to confusion

A ticking clock announces

Hours with a chime

Without reason.

When carousel horses

Come to life

You dream

You live a child's imagination

Fleeing adult captivity

Freeing possibility

To where anything can be.

D.A. Wittler 16'