Wintertime Wish

When I was a little girl
With cherub cheeks and blackened curls
At wintertime, this tale unfurled
In my corner of this world

I’d seen it once yet seen it plenty
Those snow-white girls, their hair hung heavy
In tinsel gold and red and bronze
Those perfect nimble ice icons 

I wished to hold as they did then
Not a doll nor diadem
But frothing cocoa, hot with foam,
That dignified eclat of homes

Poured while bubbling from stainless steel
An amiable nighttime meal
O’ how to devour with great zeal
This was my singular appeal

I prayed to Allah, sang his praise
To surrender his kindly gaze
Upon my girlish winter days 
And granting me this wish at last
Which now I tell, a precious past

Baba broke for a little money 
Factory lines are unbecoming
But Mama's job was always giving
A meager salary, they were forgiving

With delicacies for her furlough
Plastic wrapped with sell dates unknown
For these stale treats, a taste had grown
Yet still! For Mayan gold I vyed
But not so much that I could cry

(It was the humblest little thing
It was the softest echoing
It would project my heart to sing
Pure as crystal on a pinky ring)

Then came, like petals on the wind
Bleached packets, that which held within
Like pixie dust, glittering and sweet,
Hot chocolate treat for me to eat

Our hoary stove was lit and ready
In truth, my kitchen was not pretty
Though this is not a cause for pity
My heart exuberant and pithy

Powder clumped like sugarplums
Hot stove running like a drum
Amber dust was swiftly poured
Waltzing milk in sweet accord

In time my cocoa cup was atp
I took it, creeping like a cat
An inferno; crimson, warm
Chocolate drink an ochre storm

Holding it brought exultation
Steam held my face in preparation
To have at last this emerald
And sip my starlight wish untold

(It was the humblest little thing
It was the softest echoing
It would project my heart to sing
Pure as crystal on a pinky ring)