A Nod To The Velveteen Rabbit

This piece is not really "poetry" per se, but in a way it is, and it certainly is to me.  I have loved this for so long, and just felt compelled to share it here, as I think our world is sadly in need of a reminder of what is truly "real".

The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

"What is real?", asked the Rabbit one day when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room.  "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse.  "It's a thing that happens to you.  When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but really loves you, then you become real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful.        "When you are real, you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse.  "You become!  It takes a long time.  That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things don't matter at all, because once you are real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

....says a lot does it not?  At this point in life I am feeling pretty loose-jointed and definitely shabby...  my eyes have not dropped out yet, but I spend a lot of time looking for my glasses!

cailin raine