Oh, how very blue is you

been awhile again, eh? i need to get better at that... here's a new poem, and then, an exciting explanation! yay! get inside my brain!

Oh, how very blue is you
by Justin Herter

Oh, how very blue is you
(In both furtone and in mood).

You once didhadnearly almost love
A tender whitefurredgirl with long
Long ears and purple overalls.

You once didhaddearly always played
Even as an arm you lost and even as
Cotton from a snag-rip-torn seam peaks out.

You once didhadtear’ly alltime love
The friend who promised but never did stay young
And even he “forgot the down as he grew up.”

And even as you lay there now,
Ever awake in old cedar trunk’s soul,
Counting counting counting particles of dust
And waiting w a i t i n g

W a i t i n g

W a i t i n g
For your littleboy’s never ever ever
(didhadnearly,
didhaddearly,
didhadtear’ly)
return…

Oh, how very blue is you
(In both furtone and in mood).

But at least you have your whitefurredgirl
To hold onto ‘til he does,
Right?
---------------------------------------------

Okeedokee, so this poem is about my very favoritest stuffed animal from when I was a kid--a blue mouse that everyone mistook for a bear. His name was Mousy. I believe I acquired him when I was 1 year old and didn't let him go til i was (must have been about) an early teenager. (I know, what a sissy I am, right?)

Stanza 2: One of my favorite things I remember playing with Mousy was that he was madly in love with another stuffed animal of mine, A white rabbit with purple overalls who I named Gertrude after the author of the Boxcar Children books. Anyway, Mousy was always chasing after Gertrude, but never did end up professing his love for her. They were always "just friends."

Stanza 3: His left arm fell off early on in his life while I was playing with him. It never did get sewed back on...

Stanza 4: The line "forgot the down as he grew up." is borrowed in paraphrase from line 10 of E. E. Cummings' poem anyone lived in a pretty how town.

Stanzas 4-7: Of course, I eventually grew out of my childhood (it took a long time though, I assure you) and Mousy and Gertrude were placed in my family's old cedar trunk, where outgrown toys that are too prescious to give away go to sleep forever. I imagine though that Mousy isn't really sleeping... he's still there waiting for his best childhood friend to return. And I wonder if he ever did profess his true love?