inspired by The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce, and How To Find Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Baker. Thank you for the childhood.
written and illustrated by
Myra Salsabila A.
within the warm memories of childhood, the confident love of the moon, and the ever-present hope that there are secrets in the world humans have yet to uncover.
for as long as I remember
the moon is always hidden
it doesn’t feel good
seeing the moon trapped in wires
I decide that I will
set it free
jump
so I’m going to
to the
moon!
oh? suddenly I have wings!
and fairies came to say hi to me!
they take me far, far beyond the city to a big tree near a river
the stump of the tree is hollow and inside is a ballroom full of fairies. they are dancing together, looking so happy.
“we all live here, come see our house!” she continues, already floating up the stairs.
“hey, let’s go upstairs!” my fairy friend said.
“when we’re not busy partying, we have nice rooms in this tree.”
“every fairy has a room here,”
“i guess it’s like a human apartment, but we actually know our neighbors?” “and the higher we go...”
“...the better the view!”
oh... the moon looks so big and free here...
is this the same moon I used to see?
we humans haven’t been kind to you, have we?
does that makes you mad?
is that how we love? is that how we respect?
we call you grand things, like beautiful and amazing, only to trap you in our own creation
I hope not, I hope we can set you free
does these cables makes us smile in your expense?
I wouldn’t be surprised if you hate us, and love them
we’ll do better. promise.
author’s note: for as long as I could remember, I have been an avid believer of fairies and other small creatures that lives in between the grass. growing up, I realize that the belief is based on how hopeless it feels like to be human and seeing other humans build the world without a care about the environment. what started as a childhood fondness turns into escapism. I wanted to believe that there are more intelligent beings out there that could teach us how to live alongside of nature. this book is written as a critique to humanity and how we handle our earth, especially how we build our cities. cities has turned from a place to live into a place to sell. the current system has failed us, and if I am still a child right now, seeing how the earth is being destroyed every second, I think I’d want to escape into my fairyland.
thank you for reading, please be kind to our earth