I’ll Be Your Little Ogress :) Poem by Margaret Alice

Dear Dad, you inoculated me against society,
your unconventional stance and insistence on
total honesty makes it impossible for me to play
society’s masquerades with any form of impunity
at all; I always stand apart, a wall-flower not
dancing along to the tunes that are playing –
all due to your mischievous influence – when
you advise Hannie on her beaux, you say “Are
you bloody mad, Bruce is twenty years your
senior – besides he smells like a dog! ” and
about Helgaard, “Hell and damnation, woman,
he is eighteen years younger than you, he’ll still
be chasing other women when you’re already
an ugly old hag! ”, not very charming indeed;
but it keeps Hannie safe from fortune-hunters

Now I’m older I understand why you say my
mother’s an inveterate snob, yet you love her more
than your life; she rejected you because you’re
an ogre while she is the Queen of Hearst and likely
to remain so for all of eternity – so I’ll be your
little ogress – a normal human being by day;
but when I’m with you I’ll turn back into my
original ogre-nature, being a tomboy again; I
love the inoculation you supplied – when the
philosophy lecturer said we were all conformists
I looked at myself sticking out like a sore finger;
and happily smiled: Were I my mother’s daughter,
I would have been a convincing snob; but being
your little ogress, I’m safe against all forms of
conformism – for all of eternity!