By Bessie Grimes:

Sometimes a poem isn’t just a poem, and there’s more to it than just a ring of truth… It’s one person’s reality…

“I think, my daughter, we will go
Today to have some tea
With the lady down the road.
She’s oft invited me.”

“Come in, come in,” the lady cried.
“I hope you do not mind.
I have a task to finish here.
This knife is sharp, I find.”

Before their eyes, she trimmed the nails
On each and every toe;
Then drew a cake from off the shelf.
“Just baked today, you know.”

They watched and with the very knife
That she had used before.
She sliced the cake and served it up.
Her guests edged to the door.

“No, thanks,” her callers did reply.
“We just remembered now.
My sister’s coming later on.
I’ve much to do just now.”

And so they took their leave of her
Whose company they’d sought.
A simple thing; a truthful thing;
Good manners must be taught

Or maybe we, who do not know,
Will mightily offend
The one we want to spend time with.
And so this tale does end.

~

Yes, this really happened! It is a true story, creatively written in the form of a poem, about Bessie’s mother when she was just a little girl, with her mom visiting a neighbor…who cut cake with none other than the knife she’d just used to trim her toenails!