Bright Dreams We Once Had (Poetry)

What happened to them? —
those dreams we clung to
and nursed each long night
saying to ourselves
that’s the life we’ll have ...

From so very young
we were told those tales
ending happily ...
she married her prince
everything came right

Not the same as life
but maybe we’d have
some good fortune come
right out of the blue
just fall in our laps ...

Life went chasing dreams
of five magic beans
growing fantasies
till eventually
the ogre caught us

Grim old age has come
pages quickly turned
and the ending’s not
quite the glowing one
we once imagined