[ sample - content for children]

Notice to the reader:

There are days when everything simply goes wrong: the cat springs a leak, meteorites land in your tea, the river next door decides to pop in for a visit and your mother announces that she is off to Oman to become a camel racer.
When such a day presents itself to you, my dear reader, it is important to remember that as crazy as the world might actually choose to be at any given moment, there exists an absolutely foolproof remedy. "It's Television!" I hear you think, but you would be quite wrong. This is why: on a normal day, it would be entirely conceivable that you'd plunk yourself on your favourite couch and let the flicker of the tubes lull you into a sleep like state. This, however, is far from an ordinary day.. Earlier on, quite by accident, you mailed your remote control to your pen pal in Bolivia. Furthermore, this morning a rather grumpy employee of your local electricity company opened an envelope expecting the usual cheque. Instead, all he found was a card wishing your uncle Fred "many happy returns". So you see, my dear reader, watching your favourite show is not an option.

The foolproof remedy mentioned earlier, however, is actually very simple. First, you slip into your favourite pyjamas (please make sure that they are actually yours). Next, find a candle. This is absolutely necessary, since the clerk at the electricity company, who was not named Fred, due to the previously mentioned mix-up, got even grumpier and has decided that you should live in darkness for a while. Once the candle is lit, hop over to your bed. After ascertaining that it is devoid of hedgehogs, dive under the covers and tuck yourself in. Once you are all snug, remove the said covers and get out of bed: it appears that you have forgotten the book. Hence, saunter over to your bookshelf, pick out a work which has a cover identical to this one, then return to your bed.

My dear reader, you are now ready to forget about all that has happened today. Soon you will be asleep and will dream things which not one person in the history of this tiny blue planet has dreamed before. In order to get you on your way, I have taken the liberty of opening some doors, so to speak. Enter any one of them by turning the page whenever you are ready.

Something silly before we start dreaming.

I apologise for any inconvenience. On the previous page I mentioned that I was going to let you get on with your pre-slumber literature. In my haste, I forgot to explain that before we get into the more heady stuff of dream doors and such, one small task has to be achieved. For you see, before one is able to get a good night's rest, it is vital to unclog one's brain of all the things that have piled up during the day. A distant ancestor of mine, the rather mischievous Herr Münchhausen, argued that the best way to achieve this state, is to think of something extraordinarily silly. As a matter of fact, he argued, that it is absolutely necessary to be silly. Why, you might ask? Well my dear reader, according to the dusty relative, it is because life often is not at all that we want it to be. So strange and unusual is what we encounter, that most times it is best to just stop thinking altogether and, instead, start laughing as loudly and heartily as our bellies can handle.

The poems that will follow shortly are meant to illustrate this. All of them are quite strange and actually have only one purpose, namely to have no purpose at all. Ideally you will giggle or laugh when you read them. Mind you, they might actually not be that funny. Here is what I suggest: if you don't smile at any of these poems, grab a pen and a piece of paper and write down the silliest thing that you can think of, the sillier the better. Don't worry if no one else finds it funny. After all, it will be your poem.

Nightephant

You travel down a wriggly path:
Whoomps! See the neck of the green giraffe,
as it loops around: you laugh and laugh.

Then make a right, and a not wrong,
and stare into the thrilling throng
of green eyed flowers filled with song.

Now make a left and another right:
see purple penguins taking flight
on clumpy clouds into the night.

And when you finally look away,
you see three mongooses at play
with pink pong balls made out of clay.

You leave the road, into forest black.
There! A yellow bugbear on its back
putting spinach in a sack.

It's time to rest my tired friend.
Lie down and listen to the end
of elephant mothers who sometimes cry,
when little elephants do fly
far, far away to that silver lake
You know the one, the one you take
into your sleep…
...your happy sleep.

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