Don’t Tell Her

~ J.R. Nolan

Don’t tell her she’s pretty,
It’ll go to her head.

Don’t tell her to sing,
She’ll sing all she has said.

Don’t tell her to dance,
She’ll make people look.

Don’t tell her to dream,
She’ll read all the books.

Don’t tell her to love,
She might learn to care.

Don’t tell her she’s clever,
She might even dare.

Don’t tell her to smile,
She’ll get what she needs.

Don’t tell her to try,
She might just succeed.

Christmas Past

~ J.R. Nolan

She never smiled at him the way she smiled at the old paper bauble. Made by grubby little hands that stole her heart away. Carefully preserved in its box, it still had glitter stuck to it. The bitter old man closed his hand and crushed the precious gift. No more grubby little hands, no more tender heart. She was gone and they were all grown. He didn’t care then. They don’t care now. 

As featured on Paragraph Planet on 22nd December 2021 www.paragraphplanet.com