Goldenheart

Once
there was a little boy
with golden hair
and golden skin
and a golden heart.

Goldenheart was his name,
but his Dad
was awfully sad.
He was awesomely, morbidly, chronically sad.
‘Hey Dad, why are you so sad?’
But the wind blew his words away,
and his father wasn’t listening anyway.

But as the little boy grew
his heart caught the bug,
the sadness germ
and he got so awfully sad.
He was awesomely, morbidly, chronically sad.
‘Hey Dad, why am I so sad?’
But the wind blew his words away,
and his father wasn’t listening anyway.

One fine day his Dad passed away –
of grief they say.
He flew off to heaven with wings and a harp
and was never sad again.
But Goldenheart said,
‘O Daddy dad,
you were so sad
you made me mad,
and I vow and declare I will never,
I will NEVER again be sad!’

Then Goldenheart took
his beautiful heart,
he threw it in a tin box,
a rusty old tin box
and he threw the key into the wide and wonderful Sea!

And the King of the Sea,
that wide and wonderful Sea
caught the key and said,
‘O my son
my Golden One,
what have you done to yourself my son?’
But the waves washed his words away
and the boy wasn’t listening anyway.

But at night he dreamed
of a great mermaid
with deep green eyes and silver hair.
She took him way down there,
down to a cave
far beneath the waves.

She said,
‘Listen young man
here is my plan –
take this key you threw away
unlock the tin your heart is in
or it’ll be your head
that you live in!’
But the waves washed her words away
and in the morning he forgot what she did say.

Well, not before long
Goldenheart had a son,
such a beautiful son.
Goldenheart was his name
and Goldenheart junior
played in the rain.
But at night
the child dreamed
of a great mermaid
with deep green eyes and silver hair.
She told him tales from Earth’s End
and they played all night in the sparkling, wonderful Sea.

One day the boy asked his Dad,
‘Hey Dad what does it mean to be a man?
And do you keep your heart in a tin?
And is it your head that you live in?
My silver haired friend said that that’s what it’s in!’
But the wind washed his words away
and his father wasn’t listening anyway.

So the boy took a key from the great mermaid,
unlocked the tin,
found a heart of gold still beating strong so I’m told,
and the heart flew out from the young boys hand –
all it wanted was home
and in two seconds flat it was back inside the man!

And that is why
on that day
Goldenheart Senior cried all day.
He made rivers and lakes with his sweet loving tears
and he lived happily for years and years,
and always listened
to what his heart did say!

Published in byronchild/Kindred Issue 4

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