Gepetto
Location
"You must always be a good boy" she used to say
to her young son, so impressionable.
"Never lie, of course" in times so gray;
his mother's words were irrevocable.
When he grew up to be old and worked on his own,
he heard voices in his head that kept him company.
He prayed for a son so he would be no longer alone
every night in his small room in Tuscany.
Until one night when he heard a young boy
in his workshop,
but there was only a puppeteer's toy
on the tabletop.
All of a sudden, he saw the puppet stand
and wave to him without any strings.
He couldn't believe it - a son he made by hand!
But really, the poor man was just seeing things.
He and his "son" would go on adventures and play
in the crowded, judgemental Tuscan streets.
Although he was happy, merry, and gay,
everyone thought he was living a life of deceit.
One morning he woke to the sound
of a knock at his door.
A beautiful woman came around
and offered help he didn't have to pay for.
Many sessions, many years ago,
Gepetto understood his son wasn't real.
It was all in his head, his son Pinnochio.