Come children,
Let us go.
The carnival has
Just begun.
Daddy, what’s a
Carnival?
There’s a king.
And a procession.
A king ?
Yes. King Momo.
Enough talk, children,
Let’s go.
Down the hill
We went.
Mummy, daddy
And us two kiddies
On our rickety Lambretta
God-sent.
The church square was streaming
With boys, girls,
Uncles, aunts,
Young, old,
Stout and lean.
Streamers and ribbons
Red, blue, pink and green.
On every face
There was a smile,
A happy grin.
So we stood
In the crowd great
And watched the parade.
There were moving floats
Huge and small.
Ladies and gentlemen
Fat and tall.
A man with a red nose
Shining bright
Winking and blinking
Like a discolight.
Children with wands
And gauzy wings,
Pink chubby cheeks
And silver curlings.
Look, there’s a giraffe
Bright green!
And, oh see,
There’s the carnival queen!
There comes a man
With feathers behind.
Oh! It’s a tail!
We screamed in delight.
At last here comes
King Momo
Waving his arms
Like a majordomo.
Finally the benevolent king
Gave us all his blessing.
All around the trumpets blared.
There was laughter in the air.
Viva King Momo!
Viva King Momo!
Soon it was
Time to go.
A dosa and coffee
From Kamat’s, daddy.
Off we went
And had our fill
Before returning home
Up the hill.
Vineetha Mekkoth
All rights reserved.
This poem conveys a certain guileless charm and quality of innocence.
Thank you, Sir