THE SPELL
by John T. Baker
One day a little girl
(I think her name was Pearl)
got very very mad
at both her mom and dad

because

they handed her a broom
to clean her messy room.

"I wish," she said, "that I
could turn things all about
from back to front and front to back =
how mom and dad would shout!"

A witch then passing by
(or underneath the bed)
heard what the girl had said
and did what witches do
and made that wish come true

so that

the things that were in front
were now all at the back.

At first the little girl
(I'm SURE her name was Pearl)
thought it was lots of fun
to see what had been done

but then she got confused
and not so much amused
for when she tried to read
the words were queer indeed.

She told her mom
(mom reh dlot ehs)
she told her dad
(dad reh dlot ehs)
she even told her cat
(tac reh dlot neve ehs)

but still the words
(sdrow eht llits tub)
were all mixed up
(pu dexim lla erew)
and tar was what was rat
(tar saw tahw saw rat dna)

but what did never change
were words like mom and dad -
she thought that very strange
and felt extremely sad.

"I wish," she said and sighed,
"I really wish that now
we could be as we were before
and turn things back somehow."

The witch (behind the door)
was vexed and stamped the floor,
"Oh very well," she whined,
"But PLEASE make up your mind!"

and then

she spit upon her palm
and so removed the spell -
now mom was still just mom
but rat was rat as well.

So Pearl picked up the broom
and cleaned her messy room.