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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ONCE ON A TIME, by BERTON BRALEY Poet's Biography First Line: Once on a time,' was a magical phrase Last Line: Once on a time! Subject(s): Fairy Tales | |||
"Once on a Time," was a magical phrase Thrilling with promise of marvelous stories, Tales of the pixies and nixies and fays, Princes and fairyland kings in their glories; I was a boy and these chronicles, all of them, Bore me away to a mythical clime Ruled by strange wizards, and I was in thrall of them Once on a Time. Once on a Time I was slender and young, Love was enchantment and life was a dance, Youth was but coin to be squandered and flung, Days were all sunshine and nights were Romance; Now when I think of those days and the fun of them, When I see youngsters still flush in their prime, I can but sigh, "Well, at least I was one of them Once on a Time!" Once on a Time I had wonderful dreams Made up of rainbows that glowed in the distance, Once I sought Life, but to-day, so it seems, All I have won to is merely Existence. This is the fruit of the blithe and the merry tales, —Middle-aged plodding through workaday grime— Still, thank the Lord, I believed in the fairy-tales Once on a Time! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...KISSING THE TOAD by GALWAY KINNELL IF, MY DARLING by PHILIP LARKIN AN EMBROIDERY by DENISE LEVERTOV THE WRECKAGE ON THE WALL OF EGGS by THYLIAS MOSS READING THE BROTHERS GRIMM TO JENNY by LISEL MUELLER TWO LINES FROM THE BROTHERS GRIMM; FOR LARRY AND JUDY RAAB by GREGORY ORR THIS ENCHANTED FOREST: 5. GRETEL by LINDA PASTAN LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD by ANNE SEXTON |
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