Welcome to the sixth episode of Dickens and Quips!                                                                                         This week we have Mithago Craze on the show and I shall be reading from To The Sofa and Back Again by Roath WritersRoath Writers are @roathwriters on Twitter.We are atTwitter: @dickensandquipsInstagram: @dickensandquipsEmail: [email protected] for this week is "Ball Gown" and you don't have to be an established poet to submit a poem.Featured poems:A Prayer Is a Beautiful Thing -though some may see in it an echoA palimpsest of other, broken beliefs. They may see gold-plated faith or trust misplaced in midnightpower long-goneor worse,corrupt. My prayer-book is differentMine are love-letters to hope,Gratitude to libraries of humanityA patronage. I pray to poetry groups.I pray to book clubs, dedicatedTo slowing downtime,To taking a seam ripper to the straight threads of sentencesand the curved loops of lettersand seeing how the garment was made I pray for their patience.I pray for their keen eyes,Their strong hands flicking pages inThe dead of the night. I congregate in the silenceOf the line-breaksand indents,And as the ministers preachMeaning into every comma,Depth into every unfinished I sign my love-letter with a kissAnd find their words guide me,Map my (spiritual or not) path to theXDervla O'BrienChangeling Fairy child,where did you come from?Is there a kingdom that misses you?Who is the childin the court of the Fairies?She wears your dresses and spins around twirlingwith the Queen of the Elvenas they dance with the moon.Ancient eyed child,who has seen and knows all,your soul windows greenwhen the others have brown.Your hair softly sea waveswhile the others wear springs.Their laughter like starlight,your silence the dawn.Changeling child,who cries in the darkness,you dream of the fairies,the dancing and feastingwith creatures so stunning, their brightnessblinds you. Unable to speakto tell their story, you hidebehind smiles and eyesolder than time.Outsider child,whose sadness drowns hopedon’t you know it will change?You will be the story,the changeling who lived.You will float down stairsthat are chandelier litin a boa of feathers.Embracing your faeness,you will sing out the twilightand welcome the darkness,twirling for the moon.To know that something inside me is still aliveDee DickensBoth available in To The Sofa and Back Again by Roath Writers