A GIFT

I received an extraordinary gift today, handmade by Laura and her beautiful daughter Ellie.

Dear Ellie,
Your castle is FABULOUS, thank you so much. I have copied it onto my computer desktop so that I will see it every time I open my computer.

Dear Laura,
I thought and thought about a way to tell you how much this castle means to me...hmmm...how shall I thank Laura?.......

So here is a little poem for you and Ellie,
with love.



ELLIE'S POEM



A princess needs a castle,
As does a prince,
A king,
And queen.

But royal families’
Bricks and mortar,
Though so lovely,
Are unseen.

“Tell me,”
Said the knight in armour,
As he looked straight through the walls,
“If a better spot for duelling
Can be found in all the world?”

“Tell me,”
Said the knight in armour,
As he stood deep in the moat,
“Is there a better spot for viewing
The many hilltops where I’ve fought?”

And all this time,
So quiet,
Peeping,
Little Ellie watched him,
Giggling.

“Silly knight to come this far,
And not even notice where you are.”
She waved her arms and whistled loud,
But knight just stood there silent,
Proud.

She sang “Yoohoo”
And “Hello down there,”
But the knight heard nothing
As he stood and stared.

She would have whistled
Or thrown a paper plane,
Or tapped very loudly
On the windowpane,

But mama came in
And said “You gave me a scare,”
And “That’s only the wind,”
And “There’s no-one down there.”

Mama said “Time for tea,
And a storybook,”
And out of the window
She never did look.

Later,
As Mama cooked dinner
She said to Ellie “Go play,”
And she gave her lots of yellow,
And a little pink,
Clay.

Ellie knew what to make,
And she built it fast.
A bright yellow
pink flagged castle
With a deep moat of glass.

Mama smiled and said,
“That’s a beautiful sight,”
And Ellie whispered,
“I made it for that silly old knight.”

“I made it so bright
So that he’d look up and see
That the castle is real
And in it
Lives
Me.”