The Smiling Elf-Child

Through stained glass windows are partridges

Singing in the boughs

Reciting favorite passages

That pleasantly could rouse

The dear elven-child

From his lovely dream

And with a lovely, toothless smile

His candor would brightly beam

This child’s smile could heal a heart

Heavy from a loss

And could mend the broken wing

Of a broken albatross

Even once he swore he heard

A bird that learned to speak

Words of English origin

From his straight-ish beak

“You’ve got a joy that few will know

Ever in their life

You could warm the heart of snow

And restore a widowed wife

So go on, use your cheery child smile

To bring light to the world

It’s not the temper nor the style

Of many men, not even ones with many pearls.”

So the child wandered on

Not knowing where to be

Smiling everywhere he had gone

Over mountains and across seas

He hoped to find some countryside

With other folk like him

Or mayhaps a lovely bride

To share his chipper vim

Ever he searched far and wide

His candor still to brim

But slowly did his smile slide

His mouth corners near his chin

Along again came the plover-bird

As he sat beneath a tree

“Dear elvish-child, are you hurt?

Where have gone your smile, your teeth?”

“I have searched all my life

For someone to share my joy

One who knows laughter in rife

And who, after hours, will not be annoyed”

The plover-bird thought long and hard

At the boy’s harsh plight

No longer live jesters and bards

To bring such jovial light

“Well,” he spoke in a weighted tone

“Would you rather smile forever,

Or never be alone?

I fear there isn’t a single one

Who knows cheerfulness like you

Even a wife and a strong son

Will come to frown all too soon.”

The elvish boy stroked his bare chin

And weighed his options with care

Selfishness truly is a cruel sin

But what is selfish when no one exists to share

Decidedly, he turned to the plover

“I know what I must do.

Unless there is a four-leafed clover

Or some sort of witch’s brew

I must become a creature who

Can smile on any day

You sing with a lilting tune

Even when the sky is gray

So I shall grin, despite my mood

And bear all of my teeth

Even if my heart shall brood

And anger cause me to seethe.”

The elvish child giggled once more

Though most halfheartedly

Then, as if revealing a shore

His skin ebbed away, revealing a scaly beach

He fell to his hands and his knees

His snout grew long and cold

His mouth revealed his smiling teeth

And he resembled a dinosaur of old

This is why the plover-friend

Grins just like a child

And why plovers are on the mend

In the mouths of a crocodile