• She was seven when it found her

    Sitting in the garden.

    A book laid gently 'cross her lap

    Without her eyes upon it.

    As she stared out wistfully

    To the woods beyond her fence,

    A voice began to speak to her

    From underneath the bench.

    She jumped off of the settle

    But then she dropped down to her knees

    And peered at the small creature there,

    Half-hidden in the leaves.

    It told her of a magic place

    Where everyone was fair

    Their hearts and faces of a kind

    And it told her the way there.

    She ran across the garden

    And she burst outside the gate

    She ran into the woods

    She couldn't bear the thought to wait.

    She followed it's instructions right

    And before long she arrived

    And as it came into her view

    She gasped out in surprise.

    It was not a magic fairyland,

    As it had led her to believe

    She cried as trolls grabbed hold of her

    And wouldn't let her leave.

    Just then it flew beside her

    And she screamed out with a plea

    Why had it tricked her here

    Why not just let her be?

    "I thought that you would like it,"

    Came the honest thing's reply,

    And helplessly it flew away

    And disappeared into the sky.

    Tears of bitter fury flowed

    And aged her much too fast.

    She learned a lesson about trust

    That she knew would always last.