"All that mankind has done, thought, gained or been: it is lying as in magic preservation in the pages of books."
-Thomas Carlyle

by Louis A. Markos

Long, long ago, when the world was still young,
     And the skies were as blue as the seas,
When everyone sang in the same golden tongue,
     And the birds sang along in the trees.

When children stayed children for twenty long years
     With nothing to do but to play,
And bullies and homework and boo-boos and tears
     Were all kept far, far away.

When a sister was always her brother’s best friend,
     And no one was nasty or mean,
When the long days of summer went on without end,
     And the grass grew up greener than green.

Back then, in those innocent, wonderful days,
     The unicorns lived in the land;
Their horns were as bright as the sun’s brightest rays,
     And the color of warm golden sand.

Their hooves were as hard as chimney stacks,
     But their hair was as soft as snow,
And all of the girls would climb on their backs
     And laugh as they rode to and fro.

And sometimes at noon when the sun was too bright
     The little girls all took their naps,
While beside them the unicorns snuggled up tight
     And lay their gold horns in their laps.

But soon that young world began to grow old,
     And the joy slipped away on the breeze,
The children grew stubborn, the parents would scold,
     And the dogs and the cats all got fleas.

And everyone quarreled and made lots of fuss,
     And no one knew how to obey,
And the unicorns thought, "this is no place for us,"
     And, poof, they vanished away.

But sweet little children, please don’t dismay,
     The unicorns really aren’t gone;
They’re only in hiding, awaiting the day
     When a new age of kindness will dawn.

And you, even you, can be part of that age
     When the eagle gives way to the dove,
Just throw off your hatred and anger and rage
     And replace them with faith, hope, and love.

And if you do that, maybe others will try
     This lesson of kindness to learn,
And charging ahead with their horns held up high
     The unicorns all will return.