By Julie Wornan
Do you recall, when we were small,
The tales grandmothers told
Of the magic, mighty Little Ones
In the distant days of old?
No bigger than a pumpkin seed,
No louder than a sigh,
They'd ride on the seed of a dandelion weed
Or the back of a butterfly.
They'd shelter under a daisy flower
Until the storm was past,
Then break and run 'neath the summer sun
Making ripples in the grass.
They'd hum in the breeze like honey bees
Circling the morning flowers
Or stop to rest in a squirrels’ nest
In the misty twilight hours.
They would likely come for a brownie crumb
Or a teaspoonful of cream
Then a nice surprise, when you shut your eyes,
Was a happy, funny dream.
If you felt sad or mad or bad
Or spoiling for a fight,
They'd snuggle there in your tangled hair
And soothe your sleep all night.
The winds of time have scoured the skies
The memory tree sways
And few recall, if they can at all
Those magic, distant days.
But ‘neath the bray of a motorway
Or a freight train’s clickety-clack
If you hear a song that's low and long
The Little Ones may be back!
About the Author
Julie Cohen Wornan
I'm a native New Yorker but my home is in France. After I retired as a computer programmer, I discovered the delight of writing for those irrational beings called People. I think of fantasy as a window into another reality. And, I like to write very short stories because Small is Beautiful. Some of my work has appeared on Bewildering Stories <http://www.bewilderingstories.com/> and AntipodeanSF <http://www.antisf.com/>.
If you like my stories, you can download my e-book titled "The Mutual Reverse See," from www.amazon.fr/The-Mutual-Reverse-See-ebook/dp/B007VDEHHQ
Photography is another hobby of mine. You can see some of my photo compositions on http://www.flickr.com/photos/julieeiluj/ .
I feel deep concern about the future of our one and only planet. (You do too, right?). So I wrote a graphic novel, "Saving Our Planet," to explain climate change to young people. It's available on amazon in 4 languages. And a song, "The Change of Climate", to the tune of "The Sound of Silence"; you can listen to it here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY5MKPGr8RA>.
Our weekly podcast features the stories from recently published issues, often narrated by the authors themselves.
Chuck McKenzie was born in 1970, and still spends much of his time there.
Emma Louise Gill (she/her) is a British-Australian spec fic writer and consumer of vast amounts of coffee. Brought up on a diet of English lit, she rebelled and now spends her time writing explosive space opera and other fantastical things in
Geraldine Borella writes fiction for children, young adults and adults. Her work has been published by Deadset Press, IFWG Publishing, Wombat Books/Rhiza Edge, AHWA/Midnight Echo, Antipodean SF, Shacklebound Books, Black Ink Fiction, Paramour Ink Fiction, House of Loki and Raven & Drake
Sarah Jane Justice is an Adelaide-based fiction writer, poet, musician and spoken word artist.
Barry Yedvobnick is a recently retired Biology Professor. He performed molecular biology and genetic research, and taught, at Emory University in Atlanta for 34 years. He is new to fiction writing, and enjoys taking real science a step or two beyond its known boundaries in his
Alistair Lloyd is a Melbourne based writer and narrator who has been consuming good quality science fiction and fantasy most of his life.
Tim Borella is an Australian author, mainly of short speculative fiction published in anthologies, online and in podcasts.
Sarah Pratt is an avid fiction writer and a Marketing Consultant.
Merri Andrew writes poetry and short fiction, some of which has appeared in Cordite, Be:longing, Baby Teeth and Islet, among other places.
Ed lives with his wife plus a magical assortment of native animals in tropical North Queensland.
Mark is an astrophysicist and space scientist who worked on the Cassini/Huygens mission to Saturn. Following this he worked in computer consultancy, engineering, and high energy research (with a stint at the JET Fusion Torus).
Margaret lives the good life on a small piece of rural New South Wales Australia, with an amazing man, a couple of pets, and several rambunctious wombats.
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My time at Nambucca Valley Community Radio began back in 2016 after moving into the area from Sydney.