Grandma's Magic Slippers

Grandma's Magic Slippers

Grandma wears these funny slippers
When she comes to stay with me
She says that they are magic
And I think I must agree

They’ve really got the biggest eyes
They’re fluffy through and through
They often do the strangest things
That slippers shouldn’t do

They hide under the table
They hide behind the chair
But when I try and find them
They’re never ever there

They watch me do my homework
They make sure I brush my teeth
And when I sleep in Grandma’s bed
They’re sleeping underneath

Most Grandmas wear normal slippers
Some Grandmas sit and knit
But my Grandma and her slippers
Are really fun and fit

They’re magic and they’re special
And make my life such fun
And when she wears her slippers
You should see my Grandma run

She entered the Olympics
To put them to the test
And my Grandma and her slippers
They were the very best

So if you have a Grandma
That’s not as good as mine
Buy her some magic slippers
And things will turn out fine

©Marian Barker

Through The Eyes of a Child

Through The Eyes of a Child

Grandma, show me the photos of you as a girl
The big factory chimneys with black smoking curl
The noisy machinery blasting your ears
Dust clouding your eyes and welling up tears
Show me tall mountains touching the skies
A world disappearing in front of your eyes

Grandma, tell me the stories of you as a child
Running so free and running so wild
In meadows of green bursting with flowers
Making chains out of daisies for hours and hours
Tell me of summers of days in the sun
Long sandy beaches on which you did run

Grandma, where is the book full of creatures and birds?
Picture on picture and words upon words
Describing those animals most of them gone
Those that were tiny and those that were strong
What were they called? Please tell me their name
Why have they all gone and who was to blame?

Grandma, what happened to the world of your youth?
Please give me a reason, please tell me the truth
Was it the motor car polluting the air?
Was it great nations who just didn’t care?
Let me sit on your knee and hear you explain
What really did cause all that acid to rain?

Grandma, where is the world that you promised to save?
That land of the free that land of the brave
Where are the towering hills once standing proud?
Where even the small could stand out in the crowd
How did it happen? Where has it all gone?
Did you just stand there whilst all this went on?

Grandma, please tell me I can’t understand
Why there’s so much sea and so little land
Will I have to grow fins and live in the sea?
Grandma, what is going to happen to me?
So many questions are making me wild
As I see the world through the eyes of a child

©Marian Barker

Sweet Dreams

Aimée’s Magical Curtains

Purple, pink, yellow
Turquoise blue and green
The prettiest colours
You ever have seen
A shimmering rainbow
With light shining through
Those magical curtains
Grandma made just for you

In every stitch
And in every seam
I sewed for Aimée
A magical dream
And every night
As the daylight was gone
Through the magical curtains
The moon brightly shone

Flowers and elephants
Asleep through the day
All come awake
And all want to play
A purple giraffe
And kaleidoscope clown
Laugh as the rocking horse
Chases the lion to town

Those magical curtains
Grandma made just for you
Bringing beautiful dreams
Making dreams come true

©Marian Barker

The Magical Wood

The Magical Wood

The fairy lies down on her mossy green bed
A soft feather pillow ‘neath her sleepy head
A garland of flowers to keep her from harm
And a blanket of leaves to keep her so warm

Her cave in the forest is hewn out of a tree
And there lives the fairy as safe as can be
With cobwebs for curtains that she can peep through
And more soft green moss right there under her shoe

Her cups are from acorns she gathered one dawn
And she drinks fairy dewdrops almost every morn
She sits on a toadstool and brushes her hair
Then looks all around to find something to wear

There in the corner almost hidden from sight
Is a beautiful gown spiders spun in the night
And some soft cowslip slippers left there by the mice
When she puts all these on she feels special and nice

She dances in the sunlight with the breeze in her hair
She is such a happy fairy she hasn’t a care
Her friends in the forest all come round for tea
And they eat fairy cakes everyday after three

The birds know exactly when three o’clock comes
And they sit close at hand and feast on the crumbs
Everyone is so happy and everyone is so good
In this magical place in the magical wood

©Marian Barker