Magpie 63 - The Magic Gone

Photo courtesy of  Magpie Tales

The Magic Gone

She lay for hours entranced

Captive of the couch

And chicken pox

Holding the cardboard tube

To the light from the window.

Twisting this way and that

The magic continued unrepeated

Patterns like rose windows in cathedrals

Flowers, and colored snowflakes

Magical hexagonal entries to other worlds.

Then he came

The whirling dervish of her brother

My turn the monster yelled

Grabbing it from her hands

It flew across the room

Was smashed under his feet

Spilling its magic across the floor.

Just crumpled cardboard

Mirrors and shards of glass

Her magic window

Trashed

Because he could not see.

Jacqui Binford-Bell 

April 2011

Note: A kaleidoscope is a circle of mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads or pebblesand bits of glass. As the viewer looks into one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, due to the reflection off the mirrors. Coined in 1817 by Scottish inventor Sir David Brewster, the word "kaleidoscope" is derived from the Ancient Greek καλ(ός) (beauty, beautiful), είδο(ς) (form, shape) and -σκόπιο (tool for examination)—hence "observer of beautiful forms."