Prettiest of Lies

10
Prettiest of Lies
For my mother Marian Griggs, with love (March 2, 1948-October 14, 2013)

Prettiest of Lies

She took things ordinary and mundane
and spun them into magic
into a land of whimsy and mist.

The helicopters searching the night sky
were shining their lights
looking for flying teddy bears, of course.

Brand new towns
only run north and
never south, didn’t you know?

The sun shines yellow and warm from up above
because it isn’t rutabaga stuck down in the ground,

you silly girl!

A toy bear with a missing eye had been loved to death
and all of the stuffed creatures that still had both
were sure to be jealous of him!

A princess in Italy eats spaghetti
with two towels, one around her hair and one
over her shirt; it’s the greatest mark of royalty!

If you look really hard
you could spot a moose or a mountain goat,
those things are everywhere!

World wars could be ended if
everyone would just be quiet and look out of their
own windows.

Special things smell like
cedar.

In singing happiness is
all that counts.

Green is the best color of all
if you think it is.

If God expected everyone to color
inside of the lines all of the time
then He wouldn’t have invented any lines at all.

She always told the prettiest of lies
they always made the most
perfect sense to me.

I still believe in her world,
sometimes ever so much more vividly
than I believe in mine.

10 Comments
  1. Avatar of Sissy Pantelis
    Sissy Pantelis says

    This is so beautiful and moving!!! You are right to believe in this world- it is more attractive than the real one and MAYBE it even makes more sense… <3

  2. Avatar of Cynthia Niswonger
    Cynthia Niswonger says

    Thank you Sissy. I always felt she had a profound sense of something. It does make sense to me!

  3. Avatar of Jack Eason
    Jack Eason says

    Good grief Cynthia, your mum was born six days before me back in 1948 – She was too young.

    I love this poem encompassing all your thoughts by the way. 😉 x

    1. Avatar of Cynthia Niswonger
      Cynthia Niswonger says

      Yep. Jack she was too young. She fought a long hard fight too. Thank you for your wonderful comments. I appreciate it so much!

  4. Avatar of Craig Murray
    Craig Murray says

    lies this pretty, leave memories just as pretty.

  5. Avatar of Kristin Fouquet
    Kristin Fouquet says

    Good mothers can make the world magical. I’m happy you had a good one, Cynthia.

  6. Avatar of Cynthia Niswonger
    Cynthia Niswonger says

    Thank you all!

  7. Avatar of Andrew J. Sacks
    Andrew J. Sacks says

    Cynthia, a loving and memorable tribute. Well done.

  8. Avatar of Cynthia Niswonger
    Cynthia Niswonger says

    Thank you Andrew!

  9. Avatar of
    Anonymous says

    As always, you are one of my most favoritest writer in the whole wide world Ms.C~

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