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.
There is a kingdom made of gears, where the streets are rows of cogs,
And the citizens are clockwork folk, with tin and copper clogs.
The king is a golden pendulum who swings from dawn to night,
And the queen's a music box who hums a waltz of soft moonlight.
The children ride on cuckoo birds that chime the hour of play,
And the bakers bake with cogwheels, and they knead the dough all day.
But one day a little gear went missing from the tower,
And the whole town slowed and stumbled and ticked out of the hour.
A girl of tin and copper searched the town from post to pole,
And she found it in a magpie's shiny nest, inside a hole.
She fixed it in the tower, and the whole town started to tick,
And they learned that every small gear is a part of the whole big trick.
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Commentary
In a town made of gears, one tiny missing part slows everything down. The poem turns a mechanical fairy tale into a small lesson about how every part matters.
“There is a kingdom made of gears, where the streets are rows of cogs.” “The king is a golden pendulum,” “the queen’s a music box,” and the children “ride on cuckoo birds that chime the hour of play.” The bakers “bake with cogwheels.”
One day “a little gear went missing from the tower,” and “the whole town slowed and stumbled.” “A girl of tin and copper searched the town from post to pole” and found it in “a magpie’s shiny nest.” She fixed it, “and they learned that every small gear is a part of the whole big trick.”