Mother Natures Sons

A Poem by Tate Morgan

We never went on safari without carrying BB guns Which we toted, locked and loaded we were all mother nature’s sons.

Raft

Tony lived out in the country

on a hundred acre estate

There on our throne, we called Tombstone

is where we would tempt our fate

On what we called the back forty

set the barn where our ponies stayed

There we could count, each trusty mount

to partner in each game we played

We picked up our neighbor Georgie

from a bit farther down the lane

In an hours course, saddled each horse

then set off with the morning rain

Georgie always rode ole Rusty

a stud with a mind of his own

Tough and so wild, mind of a child

ole Rusty was bad to the bone

We never went on safari

without carrying BB guns

Which we toted, locked and loaded

we were all mother nature’s sons

We had mastered our universe

or to us at least it seemed so

That afternoon, we shot a coon

how he escaped I'll never know

Off we raced to Lost Creek

our favorite watering hole

Crazy Rusty, hot and dusty

rode out on point for this patrol

Out past the neighbors fields of corn

our club house in the willow tree

The winding lane, a weather vane

to the creek that ran to the sea

We tied the horses to a tree

in the grass by the swimming hole

Piled up the rocks, just like Fort Knox

making it deeper was our goal

All afternoon we played out there

shooting targets off the ridge

Saddled each horse, and in due course

we set off for the cement bridge

The bridge barely cleared the water

where the rain had swollen the creek

So now it ran, over the span

as it had the entire week

Now George of course wanting the lead

headed for the top of the ridge

He couldn't see apparently

the algae that grew cross the bridge

He met the bridge at full gallop

Rusties shoes slipped as he went down

George screamed "Oh crap," and with a snap

broke his leg and began to drown

We both jumped in and pulled him out

caught his horse and threw him back on

Pain made him hurl, he screamed like a girl

any dignity was now gone

We drug him back to his mothers house

where she promptly rushed him to town

Tony and I, both waved goodbye

determined that we wouldn't frown

We camped under the stars that night

each wrote out our Wills in a draft

Tony turned in, and with a grin

said "tomorrow we build a raft"

© 2024 Tate Morgan

Author's Note

As a boy Tony Williams and I were most fortunate to have his families hundred acre estate to roam on. In a fool-hearty downriver adventure. He and I had attempted to ride the current during a storm upon a tube with a door atop it. The tube struck a fallen tree downstream and turned under the water. We both thought it was the end. Happily we both bobbed up on the other side and floated 6 miles down to my grandfathers Eddies bridge where we secured a ride home. On the way home Tony said "Well this day is shot all to hell! One didn't know what might come next with Tony. But one things for sure, another day meant another adventure.