I Wish I Could Be Like You!

Deep in the gloom of her bedroom,

Young Kathy dried her tears,

It wasn’t as bad as the red room

She’d been banished to for years,

At least up there she could lie and dream

And play with her music box,

Not hear her parents arguing,

Whether they did, or not.

 

At least up here was her sanctuary

Where she could dream all day,

Of skipping out in the poppy fields

Where all the children play,

She’d lie there nursing a broken heart

For the loss of her former life,

For all had changed in her home, The Grange

When he took a second wife.

 

When her father took a second wife

And his face became so grim,

It seemed she couldn’t do anything right

For the sake of pleasing him,

The woman snapped and the woman snarled

And she said to call her Ma,

But Kathy had kept her lips shut tight

That was just one bridge too far.

 

So she lay and opened the paste-board lid

And the dancer, up she leapt,

Straightening out her toutou as

She tried one pirouette,

With one hand up to her forehead and

The other fixed and set,

The dancer twirled in her private world

To a Mozart minuet.

 

And Kathy thought she was beautiful

As she balanced on her toes,

A look of grace on her tiny face

And the flush of love, it shows,

With glitter up in her auburn hair

And a spangle on each shoe,

The thought had formed as the doll performed,

‘I wish I could be like you!’

 

‘I wish I could be like you,’ she thought

‘So small, and full of grace,

I’d never have to go down again

With tears on my face,

I’d wait till somebody wound me up

Then I’d dance for them with pride,’

And something happened to Kathy then,

A change that she felt inside.

 

For all the while that the dancer twirled

To the Mozart minuet,

It took in Kathy’s tear-stained face

And it seemed somewhat upset,

‘Why should she have this lovely room

And a life that I’m denied,

I wish I could be like you,’ it thought,

And the two thoughts did collide.

 

There seemed a change in the very air

Of that too secluded gloom,

When everything with bated breath had

Stopped in that fated room,

Then Kathy leapt to her feet with joy

And a final pirouette,

While the dancer smiled as at first she trialled

To that Mozart minuet.

 

The father arrived back home that night

To a scene of blood and gore,

His wife impaled with a table knife

Lay dead on the kitchen floor,

While Kathy twirled in the poppy fields

In a show of poise and grace,

And there in the bedroom, up above

There was blood on the dancer’s face.

 

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Barbz]

There's no glee in this story, a child of broken home. You made us understand her plight, always, in your poem. How, could she think clearly, banished to a room, void of any child's joy, filled with impending doom. At best she had a music box, in her room of red, the story twists, as did her dance, which left Step-Mother dead. I was taken by this write, I'm sure by many viewers....Thank You for your insight DLP..Barbz

[minisla]

Vivid description of the ballerina. Stirred a few memories. Liked this tale.

[Marie]

Wiw--I thought the music box dancer and Kathy would just change places. I didn't realize it would end up in blood. I don't know what transmigation took place but it was to nobody's benefit.

[Valentine]

Sadly there are many children all over this world who do not live with both of their parents. Also many in foster homes. Many are abused and neglected, And it is many grandparents taking on their children's responsibility. Ending with blood on the dancer makes me wonder if Kathy used it to hit the wicked step mother after she stabbed her or if their roles were magically reversed.. Valentine

[R Smith]

oh i do love a happy ending David plus a really good horror story and this both in spades, fantastic my friend :)

[MomzillaNC]

Whoa! Darkly haunting and twisted and tragic and chillingly horrible all at the same time. I kind of saw the switch coming, but the Lizzie Borden-esque ending was a bit of shocker.

[Sourav]

Very captivating write. Like the flow of the poem as well.

[Valkyrie Warrior]

Wow just wow!!!! What a chilling, beautiful and haunting poem!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frozen Eyes]

WOW, it took me two reads to engulf the ending. Gracefully deadly. Hats off David :)