The Queen

She was the queen of the kingdom of lost things.

Her gown was made from dozens of mismatched socks,

And her crown was made from an assortment of house keys, forks, and screws.

Her subjects were lost hikers and confused tourists

And all she wanted was for them to be happy

But it was difficult to sleep among the lost toys and jewelry.

It reminded them of all the things they had lost.

Some subjects still believed that they would find their way home,

But most had already lost hope.

The kingdom of lost things was not a happy place.

…

She was the queen of the kingdom of lost things,

And she knew something strange was happening in our world,

Because lost things started pouring in like a hailstorm.

Summer camps, soccer games,

Birthday Parties and family reunions.

Large sections of AP tests,

Competitions and school dances.

School days.

Jobs.

The queen of the kingdom of lost things was overjoyed when all the things we’ve lost came to her kingdom.

Finally, she though, my subjects can be happy.

But they weren’t.

She didn’t understand why they weren’t.

Maybe it’s because they knew the birthday parties belonged to their kids.

Or that the jobs belonged to their friends and family.

Or maybe it’s because they would rather have their kids than have the birthday parties.

Maybe it’s because they wanted their friends back.

The queen of the kingdom of lost things watched her subjects from her palace of tempers and dreams.

She watched as they ignored the NBA games and the concerts.

And she couldn’t understand why they weren’t happy.

Perhaps there is something else, she thought, something else that makes a person truly happy.

And the more she thought about it, the more desperate she became for it.

She had always strived for her subjects happiness, when she never knew what happiness was.

She straightened her crown and fastened an old, ragged cloak around her shoulders.

She was the queen of the kingdom of lost things.

She took one last look at her kingdom, and then turned towards the path ahead.

She didn’t know what she was looking for,

But she would find it.