Danny Schmidt Girl With Lantern Eyes
Once upon a sinkhole, a prince who'd lost his people
Slipped out through Daddy's keyhole late one night
With no land left to fight for, nor love quite fit to bite for
The crown felt far too tight to slip from sight
But when the stars came calling, so free and free for falling
Their sparkling arcs across the sky
Like fireflies on fixtures, like drops of devil's tinctures
He'd drink their liquor and go blind
He'd lay for days and wonder, and crawl through caves of slumber
While happily ever under, gone for days
But in his dreams a lover sprang forth from under covers
A crest of deafening colors, songs, and rays
With stripes and spotted feathers, a storm of sunny weather
She smiled as if forever high
But in her eyes were embers of memories long dismembered
Of sparks so clever tempers rise
So he made to understand her in all her grace and grandeur
While flames that only fan her, rise and fall
And though the fire burned them, he raked the coals and turned them
The steady breath of learning, rise and fall
Cause surely as tomorrow has yesterday to borrow
A light to follow through the caves
Through dark and ancient paintings, of children's rants and ravings
Her lantern eyes might light the way