When I was young

              I was very literal.

My mother used to joke

               In the kindest of ways

                                That you'd better not

               Say anything to me

 That wasn't exactly what you meant

               Or I would take it running

                                 And stir up discontent

Or give our books away

               Or poke holes in the plant leaves

                                 To make them look like cheese

               When she said they need to breathe.

I didn't understand

                When we were to move one summer

                                 And she told me there was

                Room enough for horses on our new land

So I called her from sleep away camp

                And asked her to buy me the adorable

                                 Black pony they had for sale

                And when she began to screech and wail

And ask me to explain myself

                 I, with a great weight of dissapppointed

                                 Nose out of joint replied,

You said we would have room. I wanted her.

                 Oh, how I cried!

I am fifty one years old now

                 And I still can picture that beautiful pony

                                 He was a big pony...nearly a horse. 

 I loved horses of course,

                                As did every other girl alive, I think

                 I was crushed and from that moment,

Since I'd truly believed I'd had a chance

                 I vowed to get rid of this literal

                                My mom said I had

It took a long time, and I still have a

                Tendency to just put butter on my bread

                                And forget that other dressings might suit

                 A certain statement instead,

But for the most part, I think

                 I have learned to loosen up and bend a word

To suit me well when I write and that has helped me

                in my life not to be such a literal girl.

I have put much effort into thinking outside the box

                And now, ironically enough

Though I try so hard, I often can't get back in...

                In where innocence and second thinking,

Everything I heard was not a part of light hearted

                Childhood dreaming, musing ways.

So, they say everything has its price

                 And even though if I was told today

That my eyebrows were too thick by some caring soul

                 I would not go and shave them off

                                  As I did once, long ago

                And I would understand with no second thought

That a trip around the world can be taken in the mind

                And  every shoe I owned did not need

                              To be packed  for this long hike,

I sort of miss the way my mind

                 Went whirling round the pike!