Rattle

Rattle, prattle, tattle: let the games begin:
Mother’s morning attention, teeter-tottering 
to and fro– 
Cat scratched at the door, 
Baby chuckled, 
heckling poor Dog out of his lazy slumber.
Against an amethyst sky, still speckled 
with stars blinking reluctant goodbyes.
The thin line that divides the day from night–  
A clear white-yellow on the horizon–
Committing Sun to rising, 
Rousing the earth.
The sea quiets its moonlit storms,
Laying still as a sheet 
To carry the sound of a distant conch announcing, 
“Here Comes the Day.”
And Mermaids dive deeper, silencing siren songs reserved for night.

She dreams of a place where
Peppermints swirl in a rainbow-colored world:
Wild and groovy,
Anything goes–
Pigs grow wings and Tigers change stripes.
Far-out, my-man/wo-man/no-man.
Anything goes.  
Fairies do not shy away–they play their pranks
On passers-by
Slipping on banana peels,
Tumbling all over themselves and eating words:
Feet become tasty treats because being righteous
Is not really right.
Right?
But anything goes, and there goes the neighborhood.
Goodbye.

I’ll ring you up some day. 
(Dialing and redialing till you pick up.)
I’ll have you over, let’s have a chat.
I’ll offer you some wine in a cup;
Or, if you prefer, a spiral-shaped lollipop.  
We’ll share our stories, 
spot the differences..
I’ll write your book 
you can write mine.
Let’s get going–
It’s easy if we try.
If John Lennon can Imagine, 
so can you and I!--
It’s not hard.
We have each other.
Let’s keep it going.
Don’t stop. Don’t quit.
Life is short enough.

Mother’s rocking Baby now, 
Cat is purring at her feet.  
Dog is somewhere digging, 
(he’s got a bone to pick).  
In the distant horizon,
the waves to the Sun beckon
Like little fingers caressing their coos,
“Hush now.  Time to sleep.”
Tomorrow we’ll start over.  
Over and over till
We get it right.
Right?