Imagination Frames

Mummy’s glasses “help her see and help her think”, so our hero finds a pair of frames to see thinks of their own.

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It is a Monday afternoon this day,
and the rain is pouring down.
I’m on school summer holiday,
but my friends are not in town.

Mum gives me lunch and then sits down
upon her office chair.
“Be good now dear, I’ve got to work,
play quietly over there.”

She balances glasses on her nose,
right on the very brink.
“What are they for?” I ask her then.
“Helps me see and helps me think.”

I freeze in silent wonder,
pondering what I’ve just been taught.
I wish I had such frames as Mum’s,
to see the thinks I thought.

I slink off then to find some more
so my thinks can all be seen.
I spot some glasses in a drawer,
one side red and one side green.

They colour all that I can see
my mind is opened wide.
My imaginings are all set free
from being locked inside.

The kitchen now a spaceship,
I use all the pots and pans
to contact Earth’s mission control
and prepare my ship to land.

I drift around amongst the stars,
sprinkled like confetti.
I avoid the fiery lava on Mars
by leaping across the settee.

“Don’t jump on there!” I hear Mum boom!
“But the aliens and fire!”
“Please play quietly in your room.”
From space I must retire.

I climb the stairs up to the tower,
a palace made of jewels.
No thinks to fear in my castle up here,
but the dragon with ‘no jumping’ rules.

What if the dragon escapes her lair?
And eats me for her dinner?!
I dance and chant to give her a scare.
“Darling, my patience is growing thinner!”

Maybe Mum’s sad I’m not sharing my thinks,
She wants to join in with me.
I grab Snowy Bear and we skip down the stairs,
prepare a party with cakes and tea.

With treats piled high, a spread fit for a Queen,
I hand Mum a steaming hot brew.
As she turns round to see she knocks over the tea.
“Please leave me, I have work to do!”

I wipe up the mess but she bats me away.
I whisper “Sorry.” my lips all a tremble.
I wipe the tear from my eye and look back in dismay
at the dragon she seems to resemble.

Snowy gives me a hug and says, “Chin up old chum.
Perhaps just her glasses are broken.”
If my thinks were a blur I would also be glum.
I hand over a red and green token.

Mum doesn’t notice at first, or pretends not to see,
then she looks down and stops with a sigh.
A slow lift of the lips, think she’s smiling at me.
She peels her glasses away from her eyes.

“What are these for?” she asks.
“They’re to wear on your nose. I was worried your glasses were faulty.”
“My glasses work fine, I can see all I need,
the facts and the figures before me.”

I do not understand, that just cannot be right,
Mum’s frames are not nearly as fun.
Why stare at some figures all day and night,
when your thinks shine as bright as the sun.

“The problem” I say, “You’re not using them right,
for the sight of the eyes in your head.
If you wear these, I promise, you’ll see such delight,
magnifying your mind’s eye instead.”

“I’m sorry, I thought you were playing a game,
I’ve been blinded by seeing too much.
For the things that you see are invisible to me
it’s a shame that I ever grew up.”

“Don’t worry,” I say, and I hand her the frames,
“Just put these on and you will see plenty.”
“But what about you?”
“I will see just the same, my imagination is 20:20.”

And so I lead the way through the thick jungle trees,
“Get down, Mum, I hear tigers roaring”
We fall to our knees, crawl like bugs through the leaves,
and together, we both go exploring.

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By Jade