Melancholy

I read the word melancholy for the first time in third grade when we were reading the novel Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. In the book, Opal meets the librarian Mrs. Franny Block who gives her a Littmus Lozenge which tasted both sweet and sad.

"Candy tastes melancholy. I thought about how life was like a Littmus Lozenge, how the sweet and the sad were all mixed up together and how hard it was to separate them out."

Melancholy is a sad and pensive feeling, but I like to think of it as a sad and sweet feeling - like a Littmus Lozenge.

Winn-Dixie was an amazing book and of course it still is just as amazing. Another story revolving around a loving dog was the Shiloh trilogy. I don't remember much of the plot but I remember that I was very eager to read the remaining two books after reading the first one.

Sometimes I feel like children's novels are some of the best novels because they can be written so freely. A child will not question how it's possible for something to taste sad, they will simply be intrigued by it. It allows them to dream and imagine a world where anything is possible - the source of innovation, creativity and wishful thinking.

Once...

Once I found a love letter
in the middle of the street;
Drenched and running ink
from the rains the heavens weep.

Once I found a bottle
in the middle of the sea.
I opened it and found a letter
Was it meant for me?

Once I saw your face
in a crowd of many more.
That night I was hoping
you would show up at my door.

Once when I was dreaming
I wished "Once upon a time...";
When I woke up the next morning
I was living a fairytale rhyme.