‘My Magic Machine’ By Norma Pain

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I wish I could build me a magic machine,
A magic machine that would last,
Till the octopus sings and the Orca grows wings,
And the lowly worm ceases to cast.
I’d fashion the walls out of wonder and trust,
The floors out of paper-maché,
The roof a fine crust out of fairytale dust
From the mines down at Lollypop Bay.

I’d nail it together with courage and hope
And adorn it with pillows of pleasure.
I’d add here and there a most favorite chair
And some journals of joy for good measure.
I’d gather the good times in barrels and bins,
Bright buckets of bliss overflowing,
With brilliant moonbeams bursting out at the seams
And a million stars coming and going.

I’d want it to radiate welcome and warmth
So I’d paint it both inside and out,
With the colors of love and a white turtle dove
Would coo-coo in each cabin throughout.
A gifted musician with talent to spare
Would play music to charm and delight,
And if visitors chose he would tickle their toes
Every evening till dawn’s early light.

I’d fill up the engines with jellybean soup
And they’d start in the wink of an eye.
If I ran out of soup I could use cantaloupe,
Leftover from Saturday’s pie.
We’d fly my machine to the far Milky Way
With a thrust from its magic propeller,
We’d up and abscond far beyond the beyond
To link up with the stars interstellar.

My vessel would journey to magical lands
With the northern lights lighting our way.
We’d search and explore every faraway shore
And we’d bask in each bountiful bay.
To be whisked far away to a nebulous land,
Maybe millions of miles past the moon.
To travel and seek till the end of next week
Then return yesterday afternoon.

For halfpenny worth we would circle the earth
By the skill of my fine engineer,
With all of us in it, in less than a minute
And yet it would seem like a year.
There’d be baskets of fruit and a real magic flute
And we’d laugh and we’d dance and we’d sing.
We’d eat caviar while a Spanish guitar
Put its notes to a wild Irish fling.

I hope that my magic machine will enchant
Every visitor searching for wonder.
Let it soar at the least from the west to the east,
From above all the way to Down Under.
That each will discover the joys to be had
When refusing to dwell on the tragic.
If we make up our mind, we may happily find
There is much in the world that is magic.

And so as I gather each pillar and pipe,
As I stockpile my memories of joy.
May I fill up my heart in advance of the start
With the family and friends I employ.
Let me paint you a picture… a voyage of hope,
On an ocean of aquamarine.
It won’t seem like a quirk cause my magic will work,
All aboard my most magic machine!

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Norma Pain was born in Liverpool, England and now lives in Parksville, British Columbia, Canada. Thirty of Norma’s poems were published by Dana Literary Society, between 2004 and 2007 and she was twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize by that same on-line poetry site. She self-published a book of rhyme in 2000 called Bulging Assets.