She rolled up her Faith
in me
each night
using it for her night time pillow.

She had the Love We Shared
in a locket around her neck.

Her covers were her Blanket
of Hopes and Dreams,
and I told her stories
of knights,
castles
and her favorites-
of the Golden Horse
and Pedro
-Two Musketeers.

'The Golden Horse
and Pedro' I said
'were riding the night sky
and heard screaming
'leave me alone
leave me alone.'

Wings flapping
they landed peering into
a little girls bed-room
and Pedro asked,
'little girl
what is wrong? '

'They don't like me
and they sent me in here
with nothing to eat.'

'What happened? the Golden Horse said.
'They say I ate all the cookies and I shouldn't have
but I was hungry.
I couldn't tell them it was me
so I told them it was my brother.'

'Well' said Golden
what can you do?
What can you do to fix it? '

'I don't know the little girl
said, 'they are mean.'

I'd ask my daughter
what she would do
and after a discussion
ideas would flow.

Solution:
The little girl and her mother would
bake some more cookies
and a special one for the brother.
This way the little girl fixed the problem
and mended relationships.

Yep. Story after story was like that.
Murder?
People came back to life
if you kept them in your heart
that is where they can life forever.

Poverty?
Have to learn to see the riches
residing in each other-
in friends and neighbors.

Bad and evil?
Fight but don't hate.

Evil, learn what it is;
be patient
and resist.

Death?
It is a transformation into perhaps
a better world, and might not be forever.
 

But, most importantly,
these are the answers
she came up with.

These are the Golden Horse stories:
the ones my oldest now tells her kids.