Harold Right And Wrong
By Linda A. Copp

"I bake bread" his mother said,
voice confident and light.
"And I can fly into the sky,"
said Harold, " I'll take flight."

"Now," said Mother chiding him,
"you can't my Harold fly."

"Yes, I can, oh, yes I can,"
said Harold, "I can fly."

So, Mother turned away to do,
the things a mother must
And left her Harold sitting there
in her words of armor, rust.

"I can fly, I can fly,"
said Harold loud and long,
But Mother couldn't hear him now -
she'd left him to go on.

And Harold sitting there alone
began to weep and cry.
"I can fly, I can fly,"
said Harold, "I can fly!"

"I'll jump up from this wooden stool,
throw my arms up to the sun
And I'll show her that I too can do,
something more than run."

And he jumped up from his wooden stool
and stumbled to the door.
Banged into his Father, who
now, helped him from the floor.

"I can fly into the sky,"
said Harold, "understand."

"No, my son you cannot fly,
come with me take my hand.
I fix clocks and so will you,
come with me my little one."

"No! I can fly, I can fly,"
said Harold, "I won't come."

And he broke away from Father
and Father turned to go.
And Mother went, to bake her bread
a brown, a golden glow.

And little Harold ran outside,
expectant, on the run,
His eyes were wide with wonder
and he thought he'd reach the sun.

But, his jump was that, a tiny leap
he stumbled to the ground.
He lay there fallen to the earth,
There was no other sound,
But his tears of disappointment
his disbelief, their words,
His shattered dream, his failure,
the truth of what he'd heard.

And as he lay there crying,
remembering what they'd said,
weeping over battered bones
the bump up on his head,
He couldn't help the tears he shed,
he couldn't hold them in,
He couldn't keep his broken heart
from breaking, once again.

"But there's something very special
that only I can do.
It's neither of bread nor fixing clocks,
nor flying in the blue.

It's something certain, mine alone,
I'll find it now, some day."
And as a smile began to come to him,
his disappointment, passed away.

"I know what I'll do," he said.
"Wait till I'm Big and Strong
 then like a fire breathing dragon
as mighty as King Kong!
I'll make them all remember me,"
said Harold Right and Wrong!

Mother baked her bread,
Father fixed his clocks,
And Harold dreamed on and on
in his fortress, castle, cardboard box!

By Linda A. Copp
©February 17, 1971