San Fairy Ann

When our Mum got angry you could always tell.
She would sing at the top of her voice
“Oh What a Beautiful Morning”
with her nostrils flaring,
We instinctively knew, nothing was “going her way”
Abruptly she would throw up her arms
and declare
“Oh San Fairy Ann!”
It would be years before I appreciated her irony.
I used to worry and wonder
about this wretched little pixie
who had managed to incur her wrath.
Decades would pass before I learned
That what she was actually saying was,
Ca ne Fait Rien (French for "it doesn’t matter”)
Poor mum! Simple as she was
She intuitively knew she hadn’t the strength
or the power to change her fate.