Of daughters and fairies

After a much needed weekend with my lovely daughter, I have returned from London to a dull, damp Norfolk. I am blogging again and wrote the following poem this morning.

Daughter

Where is the elfin child,

The fairy foundling

Of the violet eyes

And finely-spun golden curls?

She arrived on a November night,

Illuminated by the light

Of a full moon,

Galloping over fields

From the Otherworld

With the aughisky,

The finest fairy steeds.

She was placed in my arms

By Mab herself,

And I a descendant

Of the Goodfellows.

Now she is a ghost in photos,

Dipping her perfect toes

In distant ponds of yesterday;

Giggling with joy on a sunny swing

Or slipping

Tentatively

Down

A slide.

She is a smile on the face

Of grandparents,

A tug at my heart

On her first day at school,

Proudly posing

Fresh

In her uniform.

She is a sea fairy

Building her sandcastle

On the shore;

A tear in my eye

As she ventured away from home,

On adventures of her own.

Now she belongs to someone else,

Who loves her just as much as I;

Who wants to keep her safe,

To make her smile,

But who can only catch

A glimpse

Of my changeling.