Wednesday 16 January 2013

Little Lady and Poetry

I have always loved books and literature since childhood; historical, sci-fi (dystopian literature is my favourite), books from around the world, conspiracy theory type books, ghost stories and pulp-horror to name a few genres.  The one area I never quite had patience with was poetry.  As an adult, I have found much more that poetry calls to me and certain voices in particular (Maya Angelou, Grace Nichols, Michael Rosen, Muhammad Iqbal, Wassi Shah), but I have never had the confidence or talent to write myself.

Probably because of that I love that Little Lady loves writing poetry and is always writing for me.  The poem that she wrote today really surprised me.  I read the first few lines with a smirk and then came to the last line and had the smirk wiped off.  

I asked her what made her think of the last line and she said it was a conversation we had some weeks ago about cancer.It made me think that LL is growing up faster than I think:

Just Think

Think of the Princess of China, Mulan
Walking around in her golden garments and splendid silk

Think of Sleeping Beauty,
Asleep for a hundred years in her beauty

Think about Rapunzel with magical hair,
With healing powers that every person longs to find.

Think about Cinderella, from ripped rags,
To silk robes and dresses

But think of the beautiful lady with cancer.
Longing for a cure, staying strong for her family,
Struggling on, she stays brave.


2 comments:

  1. Umm Sumayyah17 January, 2013

    ASA

    An amazing poem-the last paragraph hits you in the stomach. Its always sad when kids are growing up so fast and can articulate the reality of unfairness in the world.

    MA your daughter is very talented. Have you thought of submitting it to the Young Writers, Young poets or even Muslim writers competition? Google them.

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    1. Walaikam-assalam Sis,
      She once had a short story published in a children's book of flash fiction, but I never thought to try for any other competitions,but actually this would be a good way to encourage her to write regularly. Jazakh'Allah-khairun for the suggestion.

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