Poems from the Right Brain

Stuffed Animal Wars

Christmas party,
40 people,
Cleaning up,
Who do I find?

Boy and girl,
My sister, too,
Laughing joyfully,
Moms chat in next room.

"Want to see my rock collection?"
Asks my sister with a sparkling smile.
Boy jumps up and runs upstairs,
Barely waiting all the while.

Crystals and amethyst,
Geodes and seashells,
Piled into woven box,
Appear with such splendor,
As the lid is taken off.

Half an hour passes by,
Children bedazzled with eyes so wide.
At last my sister recovers the box,
Hidden treasures there reside.

Boy holds one,
His sister, too,
As the four of us bond,
Unlikely, mind you.

Boy sets down rock,
And with sly smile,
Reaches for stuffed animal pile.

My sister cowers,
Against the door,
As he chucks his soldier,
Straight towards her.

Girl joins the frenzy,
Losing track of all time,
I jump in, too,
What night so fine.

We team up on sister,
Hitting her mercilessly,
I admit we all,
May have acted irresponsibly.

But, oh, such fun!
Such wild times!
We giggled as animals,
Flew across enemy lines.

Horses and puppies,
Cats alike,
Across the room blazed,
As sister they did strike.

Sister joins combat,
Extracting wounded soldiers from the floor,
Making her comeback,
As we cower from the door.

Hidden,
Or so we think,
Behind the twin bed,
We cower and use animals,
To cover our heads.

But no!
She strikes,
Belly-flopping across barrier,
Dumping down soldiers,
Was the terrifying winner.

At last we arise,
From behind that useless bed,
And begin to pelt her,
With other objects instead.

Books,
Pillows,
Pencils galore,
Defeat the mighty sister,
With one prick of the sword.

"Alright!" she screams,
Breathing hard from the battle.
She acquiesces,
And I admit we were startled.

We begin our parade,
Toting animals down the hall,
Playing fake trumpets,
Not hearing our moms call at all.

We sing and dance,
All through the upstairs,
Sister following in defeat,
As she trudges downstairs.

We follow with glee,
Prisoner in tow,
And show moms our prize,
Our faces aglow.

Moms laugh light-heartedly,
Expressions so kind,
As boy and girl's mom,
Bids us goodbye.

We shout and wave,
And tackle with hugs,
And stand at the doorway,
Clutching hot cocoa mugs.

The fun is over,
It's time to clean up.
But what a way to end the year,
With kids I didn't know.

Our new friends leave,
As my mind ponders,
Could a friendship form,
Between the kids here and yonder?

To this day we laugh,
And remember the time,
When soldiers were fired,
Across enemy lines.
Friendships formed,
And friendships kept,
On this night during Christmastime,
That I'll never forget.