This poem was published in the international poetry anthology named Sweet Smell Journal in August, 2023, based on the theme ‘all things bright and beautiful’. 

 

Mother, wife, entrepreneur, socialite…she dons many hats with elan

Whipping up a lavish caviar or clinching a stubborn deal – she aces both!

She gathers the rust-and gold autumnal bounty from her cobbled pathway

as easily as she plays a flawless Mozart on the two-tone keyboard.

 

But in her heart, she’s still the wide-eyed child

who tosses her straw bonnet in the air and giggles in delight,

Who loves the dappled sunshine caressing her freckled face,

who marvels at the polka-dotted beetle nestled amongst the mulberry bushes,

and smiles at the golden buttercups speckling the verdurous meadows.

 

A pearl spills out of her hazel, doe-shaped confines

as she places a posse of wildflowers where the young war recruit lies.

She smiles and leaves as the hungry waif blissfully gorges on a warm meal,

and then, she helps a lonely widower hang the Yuletide tinsel, light the candles,

and together, they croon a merry, raucous country tune!

 

She fills her stein of life to the brim

With faith, fervour, and joie de vivre.

Head held high, she marches light years ahead

Unfettered…undaunted…a green shoot peeking out of an existential rubble!