Draft in the author’s style. This poem was written for Poet in Wonderland to sit beside the author’s own readings, and is waiting for the author’s review. The commentary is a working draft too.
In a shop of crooked bottles at the end of Whimsy Street,
A witch sold potions in the dark for those who feared defeat.
A knight came in with trembling knees and asked for something bold,
A potion of pure courage, from the kind that's brewed of gold.
The witch stirred a cauldron slowly, and she muttered as she stirred,
She added a thread of moonlight and the song of a small bird.
She handed him a bottle, full of clear and simple water,
And said, drink it at the moment when you feel it's time to falter.
The knight went to the dragon's lair, and he trembled, and he drank,
And he found that he was steady, and the fear within him shrank.
He asked her how it worked, since it was only plain and clear,
She said, the courage was in you, I just gave you the cheer.
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Commentary
A knight who fears his own fear visits a witch for help. The potion she hands him is only water, and its secret is the poem’s lesson.
In “a shop of crooked bottles at the end of Whimsy Street,” a witch “sold potions in the dark for those who feared defeat.” A knight comes “with trembling knees” and asks for “a potion of pure courage.” The witch stirs her cauldron, adds “a thread of moonlight and the song of a small bird,” and hands him “a bottle, full of clear and simple water.”
She says to drink it “at the moment when you feel it’s time to falter.” At the dragon’s lair, the knight “trembled, and he drank, and he found that he was steady.” When he asks how it worked, she says, “the courage was in you, I just gave you the cheer.”