a little bit of magick

My son begged me  
to buy him a wand  
and was so disappointed  
when he realised  
he couldn't do real magic  
he tried to turn me  
invisible  
and it obviously didn't work  
 
It didn't stop him from trying  
various spells
for three days  
as I tried to explain
that pretend is fine  
while offering him  
a different kind of magic  
waving the wand over his head
and proclaiming  
that "buddy, is beautiful and clever"
and asking him if that spell  
made feel beautiful and clever  
and watching him light up  
with a yes to both  
 
I couldn't bewitch his fairy wings
and make him fly  
or make any of us invisible  
(which is his new maniacal obsession)
but I could still use magic words
to make him feel good  
 
This morning  
we looked up crazy  
science experiments  
on YouTube
and he fell in love  
with watching the destructive  
power of chemistry  
as a chicken leg got dissolved  
in a violent acid bath  
and someone stuck  
a gummy bear in a test tube  
that lit it up in a mini inferno  
until nothing was left  
but gummy bear ashes  
 
I remember being a kid  
and so completely believing in magic  
I refused to believe it wasn't real  
until I was 12 years old  
 
I wasn't mad the grown ups lied
I was mad that magic wasn't like the stories
I had immersed myself in
 
To be honest  
I've never really accepted  
that I can't do magic spells  
when all I have to do is brew tea  
or cook something  
to prove that transmogrification  
is real  
 
Real world magic might not be  
escaping to Narnia  
to jumping through a wall  
at platform nine and three quarters
I can't turn anyone into a frog  
or a donkey or a toadstool  
I can't chase a rainbow  
to a pot of gold  
but I can tell stories  
and give compliments  
and cook  
and make art  
and do clever science  
and be endlessly confused  
by exquisite sleight-of-hand magic  
that I refuse to look up the solutions to
because there is a childish part of me  
that likes being frustrated by not knowing  
exactly how the trick works  
 
I'll never tell my son magic isn't real  
but I will tell him that some of it is pretend  
and the rest is found in every day life  
that we forget to look at  
because every day magic has become
so normal we don't see it anymore  
 
I bought my son a wand
and I'm pretty he's still waiting  
for me to turn invisible  
I'm not entirely sure why