Imagine a Time

Penny Harrison

Jennifer Goldsmith

New Frontier, 2024

32pp., hbk., RRP $A26.99

9781922326966

Remember the traditional tale of Sleeping Beauty about a princess who at her christening, was cursed by an evil fairy who hadn’t been invited? She would prick her finger when she was older and died, but this was mitigated by another fairy to sleeping for a hundred years before being awakened by a handsome prince.  And while she slept, so did everything around her except for Mother Nature and the land around the palace was once more returned to its natural beauty.

Its origins are unclear but there are elements of it in a number of European stories from medieval times, all with that theme of everything stopping and Mother Nature reclaiming what is hers.  Although this new release doesn’t have the elements of the princess being awakened by the handsome prince, it does invite the reader to imagine time stopping, all travel and transport halted and people slowing down to just breathe and be in the moment.  

Imagine a time when all the world stops,
when all of the clocks no longer tick-tock.
and all of the maps are starting to fade,
as the need to be somewhere drifts far away.

While no one falls asleep for 100 years, they do take the time to let go of all that drives them forward incessantly to the next thing as if the current time is not enough or of no consequence, and soak in what is available for free if only they had time to see and appreciate it.

With a gentle, rhythmic rhyming text that encourages a slowing of the mind and delicate watercolour images, this is one that should be shared regularly as we encourage our young children to listen to the sounds of night falling, or watch the clouds make magical shapes, or wonder at the beauty of the colours around them. or… 

Living where I do I am blessed to be surrounded by Mother Nature at her finest but what about the city kids who seemed to live a life of such hustle and bustle that there is no time to stop and dream and wonder?  It’s a theme that has been addressed before in stories like The Great Realisation by Tomos Roberts, In My Garden by Kate Mayes, and The Concrete Garden by Bob Graham, among others, but it is clearly one that needs to be returned to often.  The clocks don’t have to stop for ever, not even for an hour, but what about taking five minutes outside right now just to fill the senses and daydream.  The feeling of calm will last a lot longer.