Once upon a sleeping Tri

April 1998, modified February 2011
Written for Julia, when she was 10
Woody and Junior were stuffed animals of Julia’s (both Triceratops) and Molly was her dog

Once upon a sleeping Tri,
Dreams of playtime happened by,
With Junior friend and Julia too,
And many fun-filled things to do.

Woody tossed and turned in sleep,
And peeped out the oddest little peep,
From thoughts of climbing up a tree,
As if a bird he wished to be.

In his dream, at tree’s top,
Woody thought he just might drop,
But Julia climbed and found him there,
And gently smoothed his ruffled hair.

She took him down, to the ground,
Where with delight they soon found,
That Junior had made a lovely cake,
Cut into pieces for them to take.

They ate it quickly, before it cooled,
While all along dog Molly drooled.
Molly barked, and scared Woody so,
That he awoke, all ready to go.

Woody laughed a laugh so deep
When Junior told of his little peep,
Then all three friends went out to play,
With best of plans to begin the day. 

First they made some Sculpey stuff,
Until they thought they’d made enough;
Julia made some dogs and Tris,
And Woody may some cherry pies!

Junior liked to make a mess;
His Sculpey things were anyone’s guess.
He said he’d made a big white dog,
But it looked more like a snowy log.

Twenty pieces they did make;
Into the oven they went to bake.
When they came out, they were set to cool,
Then it was time for pretend school.

Woody was the teacher today,
Junior the kid who wanted to play;
Julia the girl who liked to draw,
As Molly raised her muddy paw.

“What is it, Molly?”, teacher Woody asked.
Molly just mumbled; her voice was masked.
“Speak more clearly, Molly dear.”
But Molly just started to scratch her ear.

“Well this won’t do, I don’t understand”,
Said teacher Woody as Junior raised his hand.
“Yes, Junior dear, may I help you?
I’d be happy to do what I can do.”

“I think the problem” Junior decreed,
“Is Molly’s only a dog, you see,
And so she can’t really talk at all,
She’d rather just play with a squeaky ball.”

“Well then let’s go and bounce the ball!”
Woody said and ran into the hall.
Outside they went, and bounced it high,
Up sprang the ball, into the sky.

Molly excited, jumped up too,
Way up into yonder, sparkling blue,
As she jumped she barked a tune,
And chased the ball up to the moon.

Julia and Tris saw her fly,
And followed the dog into the sky,
They landed together on Luna’s ground,
And wandered around until Molly was found.

“Well, hello, Molly, so far you flew!
Now here we are; what shall we do?”
Like Wallace and Gromit they ate some cheese;
But the sun was hot, and there was no breeze.

They soon were tired and rested there,
Gazing over the land so bare.
They watched the Earth rise part by part,
The ocean-blue sphere of their heart.

With Molly’s head in Julia’s lap,
The four friends drifted off to nap.
Not everything was as it seemed,
As sleeping Woody gently dreamed,

Of many fun-filled things to do,
With Junior friend and Julia too,
Dreams of playtime happened by,
Once upon a sleeping Tri.